DSE down with technical troubles for 2nd straight day

FE Report | Published: May 26, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00

Share trading on Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) halted for nearly two hours Monday for 'technical glitch' for a second straight day.
To ascertain actually how such disruption takes place recurrently in the sophisticated trading systems in the country's premier bourse-whose digital controls are in expert hands beyond the borders-the securities regulator again asked the DSE authorities to submit a detailed report on the breakdown.
Saifur Rahman, spokesperson and an executive director of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), Monday said: "We have asked them to explain why and how the malfunction took place for a second consecutive day."
The regulator gave the instructions to the DSE when a delegation of the stock market met the BSEC chairman Monday amid recurrent technical troubles.
Mr Rahman said they asked the DSE authorities to resolve the technical faults with in the shortest possible time by consulting their international technology partners and building up a technology team of their own.
"DSE informed us about the matter from time to time," said Mr Rahman, adding that the commission will serve a show- cause notice shortly and take the next course of action after getting the report.
Trading that usually takes place between 10:30am and 2:30pm started at 12:15pm and continued until 4:15pm Monday, after the lapse of one hour and 45 minutes. However, trading took place for four hours as usual.
Trading on the prime bourse was also delayed Sunday by almost four hours due to a system failure and the authorities of DSE were forced to cut short trading time to one hour and 40 minutes from scheduled four hours.
The problem arose after the bourse's main engine Sunday failed to process the trading information uploaded by TREC (trading right entitlement certificate) for starting the trade in stocks. The same technological bug again disrupted Monday's trade.
The TREC-holders are required to upload information on their clients and portfolios every day prior to the beginning of share transactions.
Meanwhile, stockbrokers and investors expressed their dissatisfaction over repeated problems with the DSE server, as it was previously said by the management that the new system would ensure a flawless trading.
"We are facing several problems in executing trade since the launch of the latest state-of-the-art technology in less than six months," said the chief executive officer of a renowned brokerage house, seeking anonymity.
The DSE at a cost of around Tk 350 million installed the new and fast automated trading systems on December 11 last year to ensure smooth share transactions.
He also said that the new system of the DSE was slower than the previous one as it took more time to save an order.
It was also difficult to place an order in last hour of trading when a fraction of second delay could cause huge financial losses.
"Earlier, we had urged the DSE authorities several times to address the issue, but DSE failed to resolve the problem properly. Now we are very frustrated for repeated disruption of trading," he added.
Repeated disruption to trading on the premier bourse reflects a lack of competence of the bourse in tackling an emergency situation, said one stockbroker.
Md Anisur Rahman, an investor, said repeated trade disruption on the DSE, despite the installation of a high-cost trading system last year to get rid of recurrent technical glitches, left them frustrated once more when the investors in the capital market were trying to make a turnaround from the past scam-induced market crash.
This is not the first time for them, such technical glitches had happened many times on the bourse with the previous trading engine.
However, DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, crossed 4,600 mark to close at 4,615.01, rising 130.39 points or 2.90 per cent after four hours' trading.
Turnover also rose, amounting to Tk 8.55 billion, some 150 per cent higher from the previous day's truncated trade transactions worth Tk 3.43 billion.
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