Unusual price fall: 11 brokerage houses under monitoring

The country’s main stock exchange, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), experienced an unusual drop in prices on Sunday (February 7), the first working day of the week. 

On this day, the main index of DSE, DSEX, has decreased by 142 points. This is one of the biggest fall in prices in last two years.

Because of this big fall, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has increased monitoring on 11 brokerage houses. Besides, the commission has decided to look into whether there is any manipulation behind the big price drop.

The decision was taken by BSEC in a meeting with DSE’s monitoring department on Sunday (February 7) afternoon. The meeting was chaired by BSEC Commissioner Prof Dr Sheikh Shamsuddin Ahmed.

According to BSEC sources, the shares of eight companies listed on the stock exchange have fallen sharply due to selling pressure. The BSEC’s Surveillance Department noted that there was pressure from 11 brokerage houses to sell shares of the eight companies. The index fell 80 points on the pressure of selling shares of those eight companies. Excessive selling pressure comes from a broker house.

The companies include BATBC, Beximco, Beximco Pharma, Lafarge, Lankabangla Finance, Square Pharma etc.

According to BSEC sources, from now on, more importance will be given to market monitoring during transactions. In addition, surveillance of brokerage houses with unusual transactions will be increased.

In this regard, BSEC Executive Director and Spokesperson Mohammad Rezaul Karim told risingbd that whether there is any manipulation behind this fall will be investigated with information and evidence.