KATHMANDU, Nov 27: Investors gathered at Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) premise to protest against what they call the stock exchange company's reluctance to fix technical glitches in recently launched automated online trading system went rowdy on Sunday to manhandle a stock analyst.
While organizations working to promote the interest of investors have said that their demonstration at Nepse office was aimed at pressurizing the stock exchange company to address problems in the automated online trading, many investors who joined the agitation were angered by the recent plunge of stocks in recent months.
During the protest, some investors manhandled Bishnu Prasad Basyal, an analyst, accusing him of making prediction that the market was likely to continue its bearish trend.
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"Our protest was for pressurizing Nepse to fix the problem that we have been continuously facing since the enforcement of the new system. However, some angry investors mishandled an analyst, which is very unfortunate," said Radha Pokharel, president at Nepal Pujibazar Laganikarta Sangh (NPLS), an investor group.
"It's hard to control those who are annoyed by the reluctance of Nepse to fix the problems in the new trading system," she added.
She, however, said that their protest was not against the slump of stock market. "It's not for or against the rise and fall of stocks. There are various problems in the automated online trading system since the day it was introduced. At times, we can neither sell nor buy stocks in the new system. We are against Nepse's delay in fixing the problem," she added.
NPLS along with three other investor groups had picketed Nepse office. Earlier last week, they had submitted a memorandum to Nepse drawing its attention about a number of issues in Nepse Online Trading System launched last month. According to investors, they have been encountering various issues including that the market data was not displayed properly while at times they could not place order.
So far, investors who can place their order on their own in the new system have not been provided user name and password, which requires them to rely on brokerage firms like before. While it was said that the new system would provide facility to investors to place their orders themselves in the new system, Nepse is yet to provide them the user ID and password. One of the demands of the agitating investor groups is to put pressure on Nepse to provide such ID and password immediately.
However, Nepse's CEO Chandra Singh Saud said that the user ID and password would be provided gradually according to their schedule.
"First, investors have to get used to with the new system to place orders before getting their ID. All investors are not educated. We also have to consider possible risks in providing ID. What if investors place orders without knowing the new system," Saud said. "There was problem in the new system earlier. Now everything has been fixed. The ongoing protest is an angry response of investors due to recent fall of stocks."
