Stocks up on news of mkt-friendly measures

FE Report Dhaka stocks rebounded Wednesday amid street protest, breaking three straight session of losing streak as some optimism grew following the regulator's latest move. "It seemed that the investors saw some ray of hope, following the news that the SEC chairman met Finance Minister and government's high-ups who directed him to stabilize the market at any cost," said a stock broker. Professor M Khairul Hossain, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) met with the finance minister and topmost members of the government Monday night to discuss recent conditions and overall situation of the stock market. Apart from, the chairman of the SEC told reporters at a press conference during the trading hours on Wednesday that the revenue board had agreed to provide the tax exemption facility for stock investors. He also announced that the stockbrokers' commission would be halved to 0.05 per cent from 0.10 per cent. The SEC also directed merchant banks and brokerage houses to stop 'forced sale' immediately as some brokerage houses and merchants banks are allegedly engaged in forced sale in few days. The SEC chief's announcement comes in the face of fourth consecutive days of demonstrators by investors on Wednesday. The market opened with a continuation of losing streak and lost almost 150 points within half an hour and fell below this year's low of 5,179. However, the market found late buying support of bargain hunting as well as government institution support and finally ended 66 points higher. The benchmark General Index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, DGEN, went up by 66.30 points or 1.25 per cent to close at 5,359.61. The broader All Shares Price Index (DSI) advanced 57.67 points or 1.29 per cent to close at 4,499.40. The DSE-20 Index comprising blue-chip shares also gained 34.39 points or 0.91 per cent to close at 3,777.56. Earlier, a section of angry investors took to the street again Wednesday and demonstrated in front of the country's premier bourse, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), protesting against continuous fall of share prices. They took control of the streets in front of the DSE as index plunged 154 points within the first 25 minutes of trading. At about 12.15pm, a section of worried investors under the banner of 'Bangladesh Share Market Investors Unity Council' took to the street and blocked the road and staged demonstrations for the fourth consecutive day. The aggrieved investors chanted slogan against Finance Minister AMA Muhith, Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman and President of the DSE Shakil Rizvi. They also demanded resignation of the three government high-ups alleging that they failed to take effective measures to stablise the market. The demonstrators started to sit-in on the street halting traffic movement between the Ittefaq intersection to Shapla Square at 12.10pm. Vehicular movement in the bustling business hub came to a halt for about three hours and normalcy, however, was restored at around 3pm. The investors formed a human chain and staged a token huger strike Continued to page 20