Finance minister blames rumours for sinking share prices

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has identified rumours as the reason behind the free fall of share prices.

He says rumours are preventing the stock market from turning around.

The capital market of Bangladesh is experiencing the biggest depression since the 2010 crash.

The market began to turn around by the end of 2016 but slipped back into the losing trend in 2018.

A group of capital market investors demonstrated under the umbrella of Capital Market Investors Unity Council outside Dhaka Stock Change on Thursday against continuous fall in prices.

In 2019, the situation worsened and the market now stands at where it had been three years ago.

“Rumours are running the stock market now. This is why the stock market cannot turn around,” Kamal said when the directors of the Dhaka Stock Exchange and members of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission met him on Thursday.

He warned the rumourmongers in the stock market with stern action in line with the laws.

The finance minister assured the DSE and BSEC officials of reviewing their demands like relaxing advance tax, bank loans for investors, and listing some “good” government firms on the market.

But he rejected their call for devaluation of taka against US dollar.

Minhaz Mannan Emon, a DSE director, told the media that they made several proposals, including quick disposal of the audit demand issue between telecom regulator BTRC and mobile operators Grameenphone and Robi, in the meeting.

Grameenphone shares fell 5.58 percent on Nov 24 after the Supreme Court ordered the operator to pay Tk 20 billion to the telecoms regulators as part of its disputed audit demand.

The fall in the price of shares of Grameenphone, which holds 12 percent of the market capital, took down the main indices as well.

“A swift disposal of the issue will be positive for the stock market,” Emon said.