Retail investors, who had been protesting against the trend, however withdrew their fast-unto-death programme yesterday, demanding the prime minister?s intervention in bringing stability to the share market.
In another development, Finance Minister AMA Muhith yesterday withdrew himself from the committee formed to advise the government on bringing changes in the share market.
?I will not be its convener,? he said a day after the Banking Division under his ministry had issued a notification on forming the advisory committee.
Mizanur Rashid Chowdhury, president of Bangladesh Share Market Investors? Unity Council, announced the suspension of their week-long protest programme at a press briefing. Retail investors staged a fast-unto-death demonstration on Sunday in front of the DSE, protesting the continuous plunge in share prices.
Driven away by the police on Monday, they held their programme at the Jatiya Press Club, but the law enforcers prevented them from staying there yesterday.
Later, the protesters went to the Central Shaheed Minar to continue their hunger strike, but the police foiled their attempt there too.
The police picked up Mizanur Rahman, publication secretary of the organisation.
A large number of law enforcers, including Rapid Action Battalion, were deployed in front of the DSE and in adjacent areas to avert any untoward incident.
Experts said market instability continued because of a lack of investor?s confidence since the regulatory and government measures could not stop downslide in share prices.
The DGEN was volatile during the first hour of yesterday?s trading session and it gained about 40 points within the first 10 minutes. However, the index started falling afterwards, finally closing at 5,307 points after losing 2.15 percent or 116 points.
The DSE broader all share price index DSI also shed 95 points or 2.08 percent to end at 4,453 points while the DSE-20 retraced 1.40 percent or 54 points to finish the session at 3,783 points.
Out of 258 issues traded on Tuesday only 18 advanced, 234 declined and the rest six remained unchanged.
All the sectors went down with non-banking financial institutions losing 3.23 percent, banks 2.05 percent, telecommunication 1.74 percent, pharmaceuticals 1.45 percent and power 1.44 percent.
The total turnover value stood at Tk 2.1 billion, 7.8 percent lower than the last session?s, which is the lowest after 25 January 2011.
Beximco Limited topped the turnover chart with a value of Tk 78.9 million. Titas Gas was the top traded share with a turnover value of Tk 86.5 million.
Muhith?s withdrawal
Securities and Exchange Commission chief M Khairul Hossain on Monday had named Muhith as the head of the advisory committee formed to monitor the share market.
?The committee will be led by someone else,? Muhith told reporters after a meeting with TV and radio artistes at his Secretariat office yesterday.
Experts had criticised the move to keep Muhith in the body, saying an adviser and the implementation authority could not be the same person.
Muhith observed that the share market issue has been politicised.
Jatiya Party chairman HM Ershad, Bangladesh Nationalist Party leader Abdul Moyeen Khan, Communist Party of Bangladesh central leader Sazzad Zahir Chandan, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal president ASM Abdur Rob and general secretary Abdul Malek Ratan, and Bangladesh Jatiya Party chairman Andalib Rahman Partha attended a protest staged by hundreds of investors a couple of days ago.
Refuting Awami League leader Suranjit Sengupta?s comment, he said it is the DSE, not the government, which appointed the DSE directors, including Salman F Rahman.
Suranjit had criticised the role of suspected market manipulators, saying the ?cats? have been tasked with safeguarding the ?dry-fish?.
The finance minister did not, however, clear his position about the SEC chairman?s recommendation for allowing commercial banks to invest their profits they had made during the share market boom last year.
He said Bangladesh Bank has blocked the fund.
Source: daily-sun.com
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