A group of retail investors staged protests in front of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, urging the Securities and Exchange Commission to intervene in the market for the sake of stability.

They demonstrated for the 12th time this year, protesting an unusual fall in share prices.

Small investors, under the banner of Bangladesh Share Investors' Association (BSIA), took to the streets, seeking a final solution to the stockmarket troubles.

The benchmark General Index of Dhaka Stock Exchange finished the day at 4,645 points, after falling 70 points or 1.48 percent.

Investors urged the SEC to take action to stop directors' aggressive sell-offs. They also asked the regulator to give one month to sponsors and directors to comply with the mandatory share holding directive of SEC.

Mizanur Rashid Chowdhury, president of BSIA, said the regulator should remove those directors, who have shares below 2 percent, from the boards of their companies.

“It is apparent that participation of investors dropped significantly, as they were apprehensive about the ongoing writ petition issues on minimum shareholding and adopted a 'wait-and-see' approach,” IDLC Investments said in its daily market commentary.

Turnover rose 6.16 percent to Tk 183 crore, compared to the previous day. A total of 0.059 lakh trades were executed with 3.9 crore shares and mutual fund units changing hands on the Dhaka bourse.

Lafarge Surma Cement continued to be the most traded stock for the second consecutive session with a turnover of Tk 16.49 crore followed by Grameenphone with Tk 88.9 crore in turnover.

Purabi General Insurance was the biggest gainer of the day, as it posted an 8.25 percent rise.

First Security Islami Bank featured among the top ten losers after the adjustments made for its record date on Sunday.

Of the 258 issues that traded on the DSE, 200 declined, 35 gained and 23 issues remained unchanged.

All sectors declined: non-bank financial institutions lost 2.79 percent, banks 1.16 percent, power 1.31 percent, pharmaceuticals 1.09 percent, and telecoms 0.74 percent.

The Daily Star/ Bangladesh/ 29-May-2012