Dhaka stocks skyrocketed on Thursday after two days of sharp fall as one of the writ petitioners withdrew his case that was filed challenging the mandatory shareholding rule for listed company directors.
DGEN, the benchmark general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, gained 3.57 per cent, or 175.02 points, to close at 5,076.62 points.
The DGEN lost 168.68 points on Wednesday after a fall of 98.62 points on Tuesday following worries about the outcome of the legal battle over the mandatory shareholding rule.
Thursday’s turnover increased significantly to Tk 421.45 crore compared to that of Tk 383.77 crore on the day before.
Of the 258 issues traded on the day, prices of 238 issues increased, 15 declined and that of five issues remained static.
Market operators said investors came out of panicked spell surrounding the series of writ petitions filed in last one month against the SEC rule seeing one director stepping back from his stance.
A Quader Chowdhury, a director of the Phoenix Finance Ltd, withdrew his writ petition on Thursday that he had filed on Tuesday, challenging the Securities and Exchange Commission’s rule of mandatory shareholding.
‘The news that one writ petitioners steped back form his stance made the investors hopeful,’ said a stockbroker.
He said the news also fuelled a rumour on Thursday that the SEC might win the legal battle. ‘The rumour created some ground as one of the petitioners withdrew his case which dominated Thursday’s rise,’ he said.
He also said the fall of share prices in last one month because of political tension, followed by writ petitions, also made many shares lucrative for the investors.
So far, four separate writ petitions were filed challenging the SEC rule of holding 2 per cent shares individually and 30 per cent jointly by company directors in their respective firms by May 21.
The SEC directive issued on November 22 said that those directors who would fail to comply with the rule in time would have to leave their sponsorship or directorship.
The High Court might go for a common hearing for all the writ petitions on May 17.
Meanwhile, the investors of the Chittagong Stock Exchange staged street protest in front of the CSE office at Agrabad in the afternoon and set fire on the effigy of company directors, who filed writ petitions challenging the SEC rule on mandatory shareholding.
From the demo they urged the government to take immediate steps to stbilise the market.
All major sectors gained sharply on Thursday when non-ban financial institutions climbed the top with 7.2 per cent gain on the DSE.
Telecommunication gained 4.09 per cent, power 2.87 per cent, banks 2.43 per cent and pharmaceuticals gained by 2.14 per cent on the day.
LankaBangla Finance topped the list of turnover leaders with its shares worth Tk 27.63 crore changing hands. The other turnover leaders were Grameenphone, Jamuna Oil, City Bank, Titas Gas, Meghna Petroleum, Beximco, Beximco Pharmaceuticals, Aftab Automobiles and United Commercial Bank.
-With New Age input
