The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Panic spread among the small investors in the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) on early Sunday as the system was producing abnormal result in the index calculation.

Trading on the DSE began two hours late at 12pm on the day instead of 10 am. Normally trading in the DSE starts at 10am.

One DSE official said, "We faced problems in index calculation. We were geting abnormal results."

To make up lost hours, the bourse extended trading hours to 3pm from 2pm.

"The problem may have arisen from a hasty shutdown of the system on Wednesday," DSE senior vice president Ahmad Rashid Lali told newsmen.

DSE sources said trading in the stock market continued until 3pm, said DSE chief executive Salahuddin Ahmed Khan. But hours for on-the-spot trading remain unchanged, he said.

However, share indices closed higher with the gainers outnumbering the losers during the day's trading.

The DSE General Index (DGEN) increased about 42 points or 1.79 per cent to close at 2377.68 points yesterday while the All Share Price Index rose 42 points or over 2 per cent to close at 1982 points.

The DSE-20 index of selective shares was also 25 points or 1.29 per cent up to close at 1939 points.

Of some 185 issues traded, 128 gained, 43 incurred loss and 14 remained unchanged. The total turnover stood at Tk 116 crore.

Market operators said the market went up belying the country's situation on expectation that the unrest would be mitigated further in the days ahead. "The investors might have ignored the country situation to act in the market," said one of them.

Another perception is that investors' participation in the stock market is higher than other sectors as they might have felt investment is safe in the capital market in the present day situation of the country.

The indices fell sharply on the previous two trading days last week--- Tuesday and Wednesday -- following the unrest at Dhaka University that led to the imposition of curfew in capital Dhaka and five other divisional cities.

The DSE remained closed on Thursday due to the curfew.