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Kanpur SE joins ASE in boycott

Our Bureau

AHMEDABAD, July 10.

EVEN as the boycott of trading at the Ahmedabad Stock Exchange (ASE) by the brokers' association entered the second day today, the broking community of the Kanpur Stock Exchange (KSE) came out in open support of the stir and suspended trading for the day .

The protest, which is scheduled to last the entire week, is expected to rope in fresh allies in the form of other regional exchanges like those at Pune, Rajkot and even Delhi.

Talking to Business Line, Mr Atul Choksi, Vice-President of the ASE Brokers' Association, said there was still hope for the smaller exchanges as the badla had been banned and reintroduced twice already.

But this could come about only if the brokers of the regional exchanges shed their ``fence-sitting posture'' and came out openly against the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), he said.

``The world over, stock exchanges function on the basis of an element of speculation. While, the Western models have the rolling settlement system, they also allow speculative instruments such as margin trading and stock lending, which are essentially c arry-forward products.

``SEBI, in its wisdom, has sought to rectify all kinds of ills plaguing the capital markets by introducing the rolling system of settlement, at the same time banning badla or carry-forward. By banning the badla and stopping the account period (weekly) se ttlement, SEBI has written the death warrant of the regional exchanges.

``We are sending a powerful message to the outside world that the regional exchanges are getting muzzled by SEBI and we will not take it lying down,'' Mr Choksi said.

However, market watchers have raised doubts about the ASE Brokers' Association's hope of other exchanges joining the stir as there has been no cohesive decision forthcoming from the smaller exchanges ever since SEBI clamped the rule on rolling settlement on July 2.

With the daily trading volume on ASE dipping from about Rs 100 crore to less than Rs 20 crore during the last one week, the future appears bleak for other regional exchanges as well.