Dhaka stocks continued to slide for the fifth straight day on Monday amid street protest by aggrieved investors against the latest spell of free fall of share prices in the market.
DGEN, the benchmark general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, lost 1.48 per cent, or 70 points, to close at 4,645.61 points. In the last five sessions, the DGEN had lost 378 points.
The bourse’s turnover inched up to Tk 183.58 crore from that of Tk 172.93 crore in the day before as investors went on sell-offs fearing the market might fall further.
Market operators said the market was going through a fresh spell of free fall surrounding legal battle on mandatory shareholding and market regulators’ inefficiency to tackle the situation.
They said various rumours swirled in the market about Securities and Exchange Commission’s next move on the matter after the High Court last week discharged three writ petitions challenging the SEC rule of holding 2 per cent shares by listed company directors.
On Monday, rumours hit the market that the a section of listed company directors, who failed to comply with the mandatory 2 per cent shareholding rule, would go for selling away their shares.
If a large section of directors, who will lose their directorship, went for sell-off, the market would fall further, they said.
They said the delay on decision of five new writ petitions filed challenging Section-2cc of the Securities and Exchange Commission Ordinance 1969 also affected the market sentiment.
A High Court bench last week sent the five petitions to the chief justice for a decision on whether the writs would be accepted as another HC bench earlier had rejected three petitions that challenged the SEC notifications issued under Section 2cc.
‘All these issues are haunting the investors and only clear statements from the authorities concerned can ease the situation,’ said a stockbroker.
He said that a clear statement from the SEC about the time extension for mandatory shareholding could resolve the problem to a great extent.
Asked about the issue, a senior SEC official told New Age that the commission would announce its move on the matter after getting the copy of the HC verdict that discharged three writ petitions last week that challenged mandatory shareholding rule.
‘The SEC has specified a deadline for acquiring 2 per cent shares for directors that ended on May 21. If the commission does not come up with any further announcement then the earlier deadline remains valid,’ he said.
The SEC should make an announcement if it decides to extend time, he said.
Meanwhile, a section of aggrieved investors staged street demonstration in front of the DSE building at Motijheel on Monday.
They formed a human chain at around 2:00pm and chanted slogans against the listed company directors.
The agitating investors demanded immediate steps from the SEC and the DSE to solve the problem, otherwise they asked the authorities to step down.
They said that the posts of the directors, who failed to comply with the SEC’s mandatory shareholding rule, should be announced vacant and other general investors should be given chance to become directors.
Of the 258 issues traded on Monday, 35 advanced, 200 declined and 23 remained unchanged.
-With New Age input
