“Buy BSRM Steel more … enjoy more.”
The status was posted on a social media network a week ago. Since then, stock prices of the company started rising and shot up by 14% as of yesterday.
Its volume of trade increased, bringing it to the second best position in the turnover list of Dhaka Stock Exchange.
“Beware! Beware! ... market will fall for few next days.” A day after the posting, the market started falling.
The couple of statuses picked up from many posted on the Facebook by LoveProfit Dsegroup, the name of accountholder.
“This is the way the market is being driven by manipulators instead of fundamentals and, economic, political and natural woes,” an investor pointed out.
Over the last four years, Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has been trying to check the price-influencing opinions being posted through the social media networks.
But the regulator has not yet taken any noticeable action against anybody except filing some cases.
“We are trying to identify the culprits. But it is very difficult,” said BSEC Executive Director Saifur Rahman. “As soon as they sense our drive, they delete their accounts immediately,” he said.
He said some actions have already been taken. “But, we’re going to be more active to stop such practice.”
An IT specialist, Md Arman Habib Raihan, said it is very difficult to trace out the people having fake accounts in social media. “But sometimes, it may be possible if the regulator requests the authorities of the social media like Facebook.”
Several times since 2010, the BSEC had warned taking legal actions against those responsible for spreading rumour about stock market and price influencing opinions by using such social network. It had shut down some sites and warned some individuals who have hosted sites those are harmful for the market.
In its latest directive in September 2012, the BSEC warned of legal actions against spreading rumours or price-sensitive information of listed companies through different social media networks, including Facebook.
It also cautioned investors against gathering information from the social media or any unconfirmed sources as it might cause financial losses to investors.