Ahsan Habib

The central bank announced a special package in February 2020 to prop up the stock market as the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) was hovering around a seven-year low of 4,385 points.

Walton Hi-tech Industries saw its profits drop 31 per cent year-on-year despite reporting higher sales in the first half of fiscal 2021-22 due to increased production and transport costs.

Over the last year, the stock market regularly maintained a uniform rule for price discovery of companies willing to issue shares with premium prices instead of the fixed price method.

The Bangladesh Bank has imposed a fine of Tk 21.50 lakh on Southeast Bank after it failed to bring down its excessive investment in a single stock within the regulatory limit.

Amran Hossain, a private service-holder, invested around Tk 8 lakh in the stock market through Dawn Securities in 2009.

Bangladesh’s listed insurers’ life funds, or portfolios into which policyholder’s life assurance premiums are paid and claims are paid out of, have remained nearly the same in amount since 2015.

Investors are apparently increasingly opting for executing trade through the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) mobile app as its download has soared by around 51 per cent during the last two years amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

The outgoing year bears special significance for Dhaka stocks for quite a number of developments.

A breakthrough has apparently come about in the discord between Bangladesh Bank and the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), with both reaching common grounds over perpetual bonds.

Six listed banks in Bangladesh cut their expenditures for the salaries and allowances of employees amidst the pandemic in 2020 in an apparent attempt to keep their profits unscathed.

Thanks to continuous economic growth and increasing connectivity in Bangladesh, the domestic demand for commercial vehicles is soaring rapidly.

Stock market listing offers a company to raise funds cheaply to steer growth, enhances its visibility and credibility, boosts the morale of employees, improves public perception, and brings overall transparency and efficiency.

For the past two weeks, the movement of major indices in Bangladesh’s stock market has been influenced by speculations over possible meetings between the regulators and subsequent policy changes, according to experts.

Fareast Islami Life Insurance allowed its former chairman and directors to commit serial financial crimes and siphon off policy holders’ funds worth more than Tk 2,100 crore between 2010 and 2020, found an audit recently.

Two new types of companies -- a water treatment solution provider and a solar panel producer -- plan to go public on the stock exchanges in Bangladesh as they look to raise funds to expand footprint.

The ongoing tension between the Bangladesh Bank and the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission could deepen further (BSEC) following a recent stock market regulator move that curtails banks’ power to cancel payments to bondholders.

IPDC Finance has recovered from a sinking position to become one of the best non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) in Bangladesh by shifting its focus to untapped sectors, according to the company’s Managing Director Mominul Islam.

Listed companies across almost all sectors saw their profits rise 8.6 per cent on average in the first quarter of the ongoing fiscal year, indicating that Bangladesh is making a strong economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Remittances have multipurpose positive effects on rural economies, which enhances Bangladesh’s inclusive growth, according to economists.

Shwapno, the largest retail chain in Bangladesh, has at last logged operating profits, a development that is likely to make the investors of its parent company, Advanced Chemical Industries (ACI), happy.