Capital market stable, DSE claims despite fall

Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) authorities have claimed capital market stability despite a dip of almost 125 points in the premier bourse’s key index over the past seven days.

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 28 Jan 2016, 03:13 PM
Updated : 28 Jan 2016, 03:13 PM

DSE Acting Managing Director Abdul Matin Patowary made the claim at a hurriedly called press conference on Thursday afternoon.
 
“Capital market is currently stable, though a few negative remarks have had adverse impacts, affecting investments,” he said.  
 
Describing Bangladesh’s capital market as being “friendly” for “long-term investments”, Abdul Matin said, “Market capitalisation, as on December 2015, increased by 31 percent compared to 2012. The number of listed companies, too, has risen by 18 percent.”
 
DSE Director Shakil Rizvi, also present at the press meet, debunked notions equating capital market investments with gambling.
 
He said, though the number of market traders had fallen, there were more long-term investors now.
 

Professor Kaykobad, also a DSE director and head of the BUET’s Computer Science Department, tried to dispel fears about the bourse’s software glitches.
“Technical snags had occurred in the DSE’s software earlier also. This happens even in other countries. We are trying to prevent such problems,” he said.
He, however, added a fool-proof solution was unlikely because of inadequate access to the software.
A snag had affected the working of 29 brokerage houses on Wednesday.
The key DSE index continued to sink for the seventh straight days on Thursday, with trading volume shrinking as well.
DSE’s benchmark index, DSEX, shed 124 points in the past seven days, while trade trading contracted by almost half.
According to the figures on the DSE’s website, DSEX had closed at 4,698 points on January 19 but dropped to 4,574 on Thursday.
Turnover, too, fell from Tk 7.21 billion to Tk 4.05 billion.