Bangladesh investors, police clash over stocks slide

February 13, 2011

DHAKA, Feb 13 – Hundreds of Bangladeshi small investors, angry at a new plunge in share prices, set fire to tyres and pelted police with bricks today outside the stock exchange and demanded the resignation of the finance minister.

Police with batons dispersed the protesters in pitched battles that snarled traffic for hours.

The country’s main Dhaka Stock Exchange General Index dived by more than 474.77 points or 7.27 per cent to 6052.41 today, the steepest one-day fall since January 20.

“Who is to blame for the continuing fall of share prices? Why haven’t they been found and punished?” shouted Shafiqur Rahman, a small investor.

Demonstrators called for the resignation of Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith.

“He assured us that the market will see an uptrend this week,” said investor Rakibul Haq. “It makes me so frustrated and angry that this has not happened.”

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina last week asked the relevant authorities to take immediate steps to stabilise markets, with about 3.3 million people, mostly small-time investors new to stock trading, relying on it to supplement meagre incomes.

Share prices nearly doubled in 2010, encouraging new investors into the market.

But banks and other financial institutions, some of which had invested 75 per cent of their deposits in the stock market in the past, are now holding back on further investments, prompting fears among individual investors.

Clashes between distraught investors and police have become regular occurrences in recent weeks. The steepest fall in the index – 660 points – took place on January 10.

Mirza Azizul Islam, a former finance adviser to the government, said today: “The market needs long-term investment to overcome its volatility while small investors should refrain from panic buying or selling.”

Hasina and her rival Begum Khaleda Zia, a former prime minister and contender in parliamentary elections due by the end of 2013, accuse each other of prompting the price declines.

“They (Khaleda and her allies) are fuelling the unrest in the stock market, trying to cause greater anarchy and make gains out of it,” Hasina told parliament last week.

Khaleda said at the weekend that the slide in the bourses was further proof that the government was incapable of managing anything. – Reuters

Bangladesh stocks rebound after unrest

Bangladesh stocks rebound after unrest

January 11, 2011 - 6:54PM

AFP

Bangladesh's volatile Dhaka Stock Exchange rose 15 per cent in the first hour of trading on Tuesday, rebounding a day after a plunge triggered violent clashes between angry investors and police.

The benchmark Dhaka Stock Exchange general index (DGEN) gained 996 points, or 15.33 per cent, on opening. On Monday regulators halted trading after stocks fell a record 9.25 per cent in less than an hour.

"This is a government-led rebound driven by market-boosting measures from the Securities and Exchanges Commission and the central bank that have increased liquidity," Mahmud Osman, professor of finance at Dhaka University, told AFP.

"It is not good for the market and the question is how much of these gains will be retained," he said.

Many analysts say Monday's plunge was caused in part by the Bangladesh Bank raising the cash reserve requirement (CRR) last month by 50 basis points, tightening money supply in a bid to rein in inflation.

The Bangladesh Bank softened its stance late on Monday and urged state-owned banks and private banks to buy shares to offset the stocks crisis, bank spokesman M Asaduzzaman said.

The DGEN index rose 80 per cent in 2010 but has suffered a series of falls in the past three weeks, sparking angry protests from investors and occasional clashes with riot police.

Police with water cannon were stationed outside the stock exchange building in central Dhaka to prevent a repeat of Monday's unrest, when thousands of investors fought street battles with police.

Many new small-time investors blamed plunges on both Sunday and Monday on the government and regulators.

© 2011 AFP