Bangladesh will probe the recent series of collapses in share prices that have triggered violent protest by investors and forced trading to halt, Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said on Sunday. Trading will resume in the Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges on Tuesday, after they were shut for two consecutive days.
The minister said that from Tuesday trading would be held with no circuit breaker, to restore investors' confidence. The circuit breaker limit of 225 points for the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange was imposed on Wednesday, an official measure aimed at calming a market that has been volatile for weeks. "A committee will be formed in 15 days to investigate the recent crash in the share markets," Muhith said.
The benchmark Dhaka index has lost more than 29 percent since December 5, when it hit a high of 8,918.51 points. Share prices nearly doubled in 2010, encouraging new investors into the market. The number of individual investors has risen to more than 3 million from fewer than 500,000 in 2006.
But banks and other financial institutions, some of which had invested 75 percent of their deposits in the stock market in the past, are holding back on further investments, adding to small investors' unease.
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