Share price plunge triggers violent protest by investors

FE Report | Published: August 05, 2008 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

The fall of share prices in the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) for the fifth consecutive day Monday sparked a violent protest by the investors.

Angered by a lingering bearish spell the investors took to the street at 11-15 am.

They shouted slogans against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the market watchdog. The investors continued their noisy protest for about an hour before they were dispersed by the police who used batons to bring the situation under control.

A few people were slightly injured by the flying brick bats.

Officer-in-charge of Motijheel police station Fazlur Rahman also received minor injury when one of the stones thrown by the protesters hit him.

The investors blamed the SEC for the persistent downtrend of the market and demanded an end to it.

The benchmark DSE General Index (DGEN) lost 32 points minutes after the trading started.

The DGEN, All-share Price Index and the blue chip DSE-20 slipped 29.82 points, 22.16 points and 22.16 points to end at 2660.10, 2288.22 and 2437.56 respectively at the close of trading.

"I had invested seven lakh taka in mutual fund stocks and almost half of it has been lost," said Reza Arif, an agitated investor.

"I have lost my life savings in the last two months and no one in the government or regulator came to help us,'' said Shahed Chowdhury, a disgruntled investors.

He said he lost 60 per cent of his investment during the last two months.

Chief Executive Officer Salahuddin Ahmed Khan said: "The market rose in the last one and half month. So, every market ends with correction."

"However, it is true that unfortunately some investors have been affected due to mutual fund rules amendments," he said.

The turnover continued to decline to Tk 2.07 billion from previous day's Tk 2.19 billion. The total market capitalisation also fell to Tk 933.59 billion from Tk 937.08 billion.

Out of 229 issues traded, 68 gained, 143 declined and 18 remained unchanged.