Investors demonstrate in front of the DSE building on Tuesday protesting at the finance minister’s latest remarks on the stock market. — New Age photo

Dhaka stocks inched up but DSE turnover hit three-month low in volatile trading on Tuesday amid street protest by investors against latest remarks made by the finance minister on the stock market.
DGEN, the benchmark general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, gained 0.04 per cent, or 2.09 points, to close at 4,691.29 points.
The bourse’s turnover dropped to Tk 128.74 crore from that of Tk 156.43 crore in the day before.
Tuesday’s was the lowest turnover since March 11 when the DSE turnover was Tk 127.75 crore.
Finance minister AMA Muhith, replying to a question during the discussions on the supplementary budget, told parliament on Monday, ‘I do not want to make any comment on the share market.’
‘This share market is wicked. I will discuss about it after completing the reforms of demutualisation in December,’ Muhith said.
He said the unrest over the share market was due to its location at Motijheel and also because the investors are young.
The market has only 1.1 million investors, he said.
‘If I do not think about it nothing would happen to national economy,’ Muhith said referring to the reforms the government had undertaken after the slump of 2010.
Market operators said the market was going through an uncertainty period amid a legal battle between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the listed company directors.
The announcement of the proposed budget for FY 2012-13 also made the investors sceptical as the government proposed a Tk 23,000-crore bank borrowing target, they said.
‘Having all these issues, Muhith’s comments on the market yesterday [Monday] made the investors annoyed,’ said a DSE stockbroker on Tuesday.
He said the finance minister made comments on the market before and he did the same thing again.
A section of investors staged demonstration in front of the DSE building on Tuesday at around 1:30pm protesting at the Muhith’s latest remarks on the stock market.
They chanted slogan against Muhith demanding his immediate resignation.
Of the 257 issues traded on Tuesday, 128 advanced, 112 declined and 18 remained unchanged.