Country's both the bourses Monday decided to form a six-member working committee to jointly work for strengthening the stock market. The committee comprising representatives of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) will be formed within next three days. A joint meeting of DSE and CSE directors held in the DSE board room took the decision. Chaired by DSE President Abdullah Bokhari, the meeting discussed various ways and means to help boost the stock market. CSE President MKM Mohiuddin led the delegation of the country's second stock exchange. The DSE and CSE presidents along with the directors also met Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Mirza Azizul Islam at his office on the day. "Both the directors of DSE and CSE met our chairman and vowed to work jointly for the welfare of the market," one SEC source told this correspondent. The DSE-CSE delegation thanked the SEC chairman for performing his duty as chief of the country's stock market regulatory body. Aziz passed his penultimate day Monday and will go on retirement tomorrow (Wednesday). He joined the SEC on November 1, 2003. However, the DSE arranged the meeting with the CSE in the backdrop of the recent bearish mood of the stock market. The DSE General Index shed 372.86 points in the last 13 months and a half. Meeting sources said both the DSE and CSE policymakers agreed to work jointly on various market-related issues like initial public offering (IPO), de-listing of companies, direct listing of companies, wooing foreign investors, keeping the market open on Saturdays and disseminating price-sensitive information to the investors and the SEC. "All these proposals, if implemented properly, will bring about a lot of positive changes in the stock market which will ultimately help promote the private sector-led economy of the country," a DSE director said. DSE's Chief Executive Officer Salahuddin Ahmed Khan said both the bourses will also work jointly on reviewing the rules and regulations on stock market. He said the meeting demanded restoration of underwriting job by brokers as done by the members of the bourses till 1996.
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