Bangladeshi investors pelted riot police with bricks, set fire to an office building and smashed scores of vehicles on Monday after the Dhaka Stock Exchange fell more than seven percent. In the latest skirmishes following weeks of clashes, police fired tear gas at thousands of protesting investors after the benchmark DGEN index fell 7.81 percent or 472.90 points to close at 5,579.50, a nine-month low.
The plunge followed an announcement by the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday that the government would postpone a long-promised listing dozens of state-owned companies. The SEC offered no explanation for the delay but analysts said the listings has been postponed due to unfavourable market conditions and fears about the impact of new listings.
After the slide, several thousand investors took to the streets, smashing vehicles and setting fire to a multi-storey office building that houses several brokerage houses and merchant banks. Plumes of smoke billowed out of the glass-fronted building as fire-fighters battled to bring the blaze under control.
"We fired tear gas at several thousand protesting investors who attacked police and brokerage houses," assistant police commissioner Abdul Momen said. "They were chanting slogans against regulators and the government." Traffic in Dhaka's main financial district was halted for several hours. The DGEN share index has now shed more than 32 percent, wiping 13 billion dollars from market capitalisation, since it hit a record high of 8918.51 points on December 5.
The slump has sparked regular violent street protests with angry investors clashing with riot police. On Sunday, investors took to the streets after the DGEN dived 7.27 percent or 474.78 points. The index grew by 400 percent between 2007 and late 2010, and rose more than 80 percent last year.