The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) ended the week in the red amid price volatility and street protests by the investors while a tense situation prevailed in the market over the legal battle on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s special power of imposing conditions on listed companies.

The market witnessed a downturn over the week as the investors were confused and took a 'wait-and-see' policy since a writ petition challenging the legality of Section 2CC of SEC Ordinance of 1969 was pending with the High Court till Thursday, said a stock broker.

Low participation of institutional investors quickened the downtrend, he added. Groups of retail investors staged demonstration in front of the DSE building throughout the week protesting continuous price falls. They even demanded resignation of Finance Minister AMA Muhith for terming the stock market as ‘evil’ market.

Meanwhile, the High Court on Thursday upheld the regulator’s special power by rejecting all the five writ petitions filed by 24 sponsors and directors of five listed firms challenging the legality of Section 2CC of SEC Ordinance, 1969.

Market stakeholders and experts hailed the HC verdict and viewed that the judgment would help restore investors’ confidence in the market.

During the week, the benchmark general index of the DSE---DGEN, the yardstick of the market, went down by 325 points or 6.94 percent to close at 4300.

The broader All Shares Price Index (DSI) plunged 269 points or 6.85 percent to 3,654 points while the DSE-20 Index comprising blue chips also declined 191 points or 5.39 percent to 3349.

The total turnover on the prime bourse stood at Tk 7.14 billion at the end of the week, down from Tk 7.57 billion in the previous week.

The average daily turnover also came down to Tk 1.42 billion in the week, 5.63 percent lower compared to Tk 1.51 billion in the previous week.

During the week, all the major sectors went down on the trading board with banks falling the most 8.34 percent followed by non-banking financial institutions 7.87 percent, fuel and power 6.23 percent, pharmaceuticals 4.33 percent and telecommunications 2.22 per cent.

Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company continued to top the weekly turnover chart with shares worth Tk 596.10 million.

The other turnover leaders of the week were--Lafarge Surma Cement, Grameenphone, LankaBangla Finance, Meghna Petroleum, Social Islami Bank Ltd (SIBL), Square Pharma, Beximco Limited, Jamuna Oil and Titas Gas.

Fifth ICB was the week's top gainer, posting a rise of 8.90 percent followed by Third ICB, Rekitt Benckiser, First Bangladesh Fixed Income Fund, AMCL (Pran), BATBC, National Tea, United Insurance, Bata Shoe and Stylecraft.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 24th June 2012