A section of stock investors on Monday staged token hunger strike in front of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) building, protesting at continued slide in major stock indices.
They, under the banner of Bangladesh Pujibazar Biniogkari Oikya Parishad, started the protest around 11:00am, demanding immediate resignation of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) Chairman M Khairul Hossain.
Workers Party chief and member of parliament Rashed Khan Menon joined the hunger strike minutes before it ended around 2:30pm.
The investors placed their 12-point demand including immediate resignation of the BSEC chairman for his failure in bringing the market back to normalcy.
Yesterday, the DSEX went down by 62.73 points or 1.20% to settle at 5,175. It was the lowest level of the DSEX in nearly 28 months low since January 8, 2017 when DSEX was 5,158.
The DSE’s benchmark index, the DSEX, lost more 700 points in the last three months while the market value of stocks dropped by about Tk32,000 crore.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange, also ended lower with its CSE All Share Price Index,CASPI, shedding 183 points to settle at 15,869 and the Selective Categories Index, CSCX, losing 107 points to finish at 9,602.
Rashed Khan Menon called upon Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal to take responsibility of protecting the small investors in stock market.
He said: “You (finance minister) have said that in the coming budget there will be incentive for the share market. Let everyone know about this."
Menon expressed solidarity with all the investors' demand and criticized Khairul Hossain for violating the law as BSEC chairman.
M Khairul Hossain joined the BSEC as chairman after the stock market collapse in 2010. The government extended his tenure by two more years.
The agitating investors said that lack of regulatory control over the stock market, ‘filthy’ IPO approval with huge amount of placement shares, relaxed punishment of fraudsters, manipulators and errant companies shattered investors’ trust and confidence.
Bangladesh Pujibazar Biniogkari Oikya Parishad president Mizan ur Rashid Chowdhury said: “The BSEC chairman is working for the issuer companies and stock brokers, not for the investors.”
He demanded his resignation for what he called his failure to protect the investors’ rights.
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, stakeholders said that the recent drop in the stock market was due to confidence crisis and the authorities concerned failed to boost their confidence.
They suggest that stock regulator BSEC should put emphasis on quality initial public offering (IPO) to recoup the investors’ confidence.
IPO is necessary for the stability of the capital market, but it should be ensured that companies with weak fundamentals do not get approval and the regulators should assess more meticulously before approving IPOs.
Demanding prime minister’s interference to save them, the investors said that they were going to be penniless.
