Share market: No respite from free fall, investors protest 

The share market has consistently been experiencing a free fall despite the regulator’s meeting with the stakeholders to bring new investments.

The key index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE),  DSEX, dipped further by 54.64 points or 0.97 per cent to 5,578 on Wednesday.

During opening of the day, the index was at 5,634, which was the lowest position in the last 35 months.

A similar trend was seen in the All Share Index of Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE).

The panic-stricken investors are considering the consistent free fall as another massive crash.

It prompted them to take to the street in Dhaka on Tuesday, protesting against the fall in the share market.

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) held a meeting with the stakeholders on Monday and urged them to increase investments in the market. In response, the stakeholders made a commitment to pour more money into the market. 

Despite the commitment, the indices were in red in the country's two bourses -- DSE and CSE -- on the following days.

The fall in the share market began in February and the indices have mostly been declining in the following days. To be more specific, the market experienced a decline on 32 out of 51 trading days.

Frustrated by the loss of capital, a group of investors staged a protest in front of the DSE in the capital’s Motijheel area on Tuesday. They placed a number of demands, including resignation of the BSEC chairman for his failure to prevent market manipulation and fall of stock prices. 

Under the banner of Stock Market Investors’ Alliance, their human chain began at around 11:45 am and continued until 12:45 pm. They demanded that the market manipulation be prevented, listing of paper-based and low-capital companies be stopped, culprits behind the previous crash in the share market in 2010 be booked, and the Z category companies be delisted. 

They also recalled the share market crashes in 1996 and 2010 and mentioned the current situation as similar to those crashes. They alleged that when a large number of investors became bankrupt after losing all their capital, a section made a huge amount of money by manipulating the market.    

Rezaul Karim, executive director of BSEC, said, “We are trying to increase investments in the market. A meeting was held with the stakeholders as part of the efforts. We hope the market will turn around once institutional investments rise.” 

The alleged manipulation becomes evident when some weak and low-capital shares gain disproportionate prices.

For instance, Asiatic Laboratories was the top gaining company at the DSE on Tuesday. Its initial public offering (IPO) was canceled after approval as it fraudulently inflated its asset value before going public. 

After beginning trade on 6 March, its share soared by three times to Tk 56 within only 29 trading days. 

Former BSEC chairman, Farooq Ahmed Siddiqui, noted a longstanding manipulation over the junk shares and said the situation is going downhill with each passing day. 

He also alleged that the regulator kept itself invested in pulling up the indices, without taking any initiative to prevent manipulation. As long as the manipulation persists, the market will not back on track.