Ahsan Habib

In its first, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has moved to be tougher against the issue managers or merchant banks that have brought low-performing companies to the stock market. 

The finance costs have at least doubled for the firms that have taken on dollar-denominated loans from external sources owing to the depreciation of the Bangladeshi taka against the American greenback. 

A common scenario in the domestic stock market is low performing stocks becoming the top gainers no matter how the market indices react.

Setting prices that reach all segments of society alongside having a myriad of products gives extra mileage to Pran-RFL Group in continuing to expand their business in local and global markets.

Walton Hi-tech Industries’ portfolio is diversified, ranging from home appliances to electric and electronic products, but the items that sell the most are its refrigerators and freezers.

The One Stop Service (OSS) of Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (Bida) is yet to meet expectations due to non-cooperation of some entities, said Md Sirazul Islam, whose tenure as its executive chairman ended last week. 

Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) is in discussions with SGS Group and Nippon Express Bangladesh to build a technological ecosystem for smart warehousing facilities and intelligent quality control systems for the country’s first commodities exchange, or futures market. 

Familytex (BD), a listed textile company, lied in its initial public offering (IPO) prospectus by saying that one of its sponsors was a South Korean national in a bid to create a positive impression among general investors, according to a probe.

Investor Abu Sayeed was eagerly buying stocks of Orion Infusion sitting inside a brokerage house in Dhaka last Thursday. The share of the company had almost tripled in the past three months.

The unit prices in the mutual fund sector have dropped over the past few weeks even though they disbursed handsome dividends in recent times as the National Board of Revenue (NBR) suggested deducting source tax from the cash dividend income. 

A number of directors of Prime Islami Life Insurance siphoned off more than Tk 300 crore funds by keeping the fixed deposits of the insurer as collateral to secure bank loans for another company, putting policyholders’ interests at risk, according to an audit. 

Most of the listed non-life insurance companies in Bangladesh posted lower profits in the first half of 2022 largely due to a decrease in premium incomes from their marine insurance segment as the country moved to curb imports.  

The government’s tax measures contradict its plan to turn the stock market into a destination for long-term investments, something apparent in the pace with which individuals and institutions trade shares simply to make a quick buck. 

That high inflationary pressure has been taking a toll on people over the last couple of months is apparently evident in supermarkets, where the same amount of money is being spent albeit for the purchase of a lower number and volume of goods. 

The number of beneficiary owner’s (BO) accounts, which are needed to trade stocks, has fallen over the past seven months due to the thin profits earned from initial public offerings (IPO) and a continuous bear run in the market, analysts say.

As the Russia-Ukraine war broke out, Bangladesh witnessed a huge deficit in the balance of payments which was the main cause for a recent dollar crisis in the country where speculation fuelled the dearth, says AKM Ismail Haq, president of the Money Changers’ Association of Bangladesh. 

Transactions through agent banking accounts rose 43 per cent year-on-year to Tk 5,64,844 crore in fiscal year 2021-22 as a growing number of people are now using the new banking window, showed Bangladesh Bank data.

Most of the listed banks in Bangladesh had to keep higher provisions in the first half of 2022 owing to the bearish trend in the share market and the removal of the relaxed loan classification policy that sent bad loans higher. 

The dream of establishing road connectivity between the southwestern part of Bangladesh and the capital city came true after the opening of long-waited Padma Bridge in June.

The government’s decision to impose an astronomic hike in fuel prices is irrational as it comes at a time when the general public is losing its purchasing power amid record inflation following the hardships brought on by Covid-19.