Stocks inch up amid two-month low turnover as protests continue
Investors confine officials demanding BSEC chief’s resignation
Stocks halted their sharp declines today (3 October) amid some buying pressure observed in the second half of the session while a group of investors continued their protest demanding the regulator chief's resignation.
In continuation of the previous day's trend, DSEX, the broad-based index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), came down by 49 points to 5,404 in the first 45 minutes of the trading session.
The DSEX, however, gradually inched up, closing 0.16% higher at 5,462.
However, amid lower participation, turnover dropped by 28.4% to a two-month low of Tk315 crore from Tk440 crore the previous day when the DSEX fell by 2.36%.
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Meanwhile, hundreds of retail investors who had blocked the Motijheel roads on Wednesday marched to the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) building in Agargaon around midday, demanding the resignation of the new BSEC chairman, Khondoker Rashed Maqsood, for his "investor-unfriendly regulatory stances."
They rejected the regulator's call for dialogues and at 3:30pm locked the main gate of the BSEC building.
Police assuring them of a meeting with the finance adviser of the interim government on Sunday managed to free the BSEC officials after four hours.
Maqsood was appointed as the BSEC chairman on 18 August and he announced no repetition of irregularities in the stock market promising good governance and reforms.
However, sending 27-28 deserving firms to the Z category at the end of last month added to the selling pressure, while a record fine imposed on nine manipulators of Beximco shares shook market makers in the concluded week.
The DSEX fell by more than 3.3% in a week and investors blame the new BSEC chairman for his "market unfriendly" decisions.
Equity indices managed to stay afloat in green territory as bargain hunters emerged to take positions in the beaten-down scrips following an extended downturn due to predominant sell-offs from jittery investors, although market uncertainty still persists amid escalating regulatory debates, said EBL Securities in its daily market commentary.
On the sectoral front, banking, pharmaceuticals and textile contributed the highest 26.7%, 18.9% and 7.2% of the total turnover, respectively.
Sectors displayed mixed returns, out of which jute, services and non-bank financial institutions advanced while mutual funds, life insurance and telecommunication sectors faced corrections.
