Bangladesh stock markets recover a day after record fall

DHAKA - Share prices shot up with the resumption of trading Tuesday shrugging off Monday’s record fall that forced authorities to close the country’s two exchanges and take measures to calm the market.

After 78 minutes into resumption of trading, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSE General (DGEN) Index saw a 992-point rise to reach 7,491.

Monday’s historic fall, the worst in the 55 year history of the stock exchanges, led to people taking to streets, vandalizing government property and clashing with the police.

Later, protests broke out elsewhere in the country, including Chittagong, Comilla, Bogra and Narsingdi.

Share trading was suspended Monday only 50 minutes into the opening of transactions after DSE General Index slumped by 660 points and Selective Categories Index of Chittagong Stock Exchange by 914 points.

Following the market collapse, the Securities and Exchange Commission and Bangladesh Bank took a series of measures in a desperate effort to cheer up investor spirits.

Tuesday’s trading marked a high rate of purchase and very few people selling their issues.

“You’ll rarely find anyone selling shares today,” an investor told The Daily Star.

A large number of buyers keep waiting in queues for sellers.

Of the total issues traded till 12.28 p.m., prices of 233 advanced while only five declined.

Monday’s slump in share prices was even greater than the market crash in 1996 when the stocks plunged by highest six percent on a single day.

The main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) said the share markets collapsed during the rule of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina because of the government’s faulty economic policies.