Ahsan Habib

The stock market regulator’s initiatives such as roadshows in various countries to bring in investments appear to have produced no significant positive outcome as foreign investors reduced their stakes in the listed companies to book profits.

The government has cut the interest rate on savings certificates and wage-earner bonds by 1 to 3 percentage points – a move that may help the authorities save but hurt the middle-income group dependent on the returns to make a living.

The stock market’s recent growth spurt slowed last week as the tension between the central bank and the stock market regulator over some policy issues has rattled investors.

Bangladesh Bank yesterday fined NRB Bank Tk 49.50 lakh for breaching securities rules by buying the shares of Pioneer Insurance beyond the investment ceiling.

Last week will certainly remain memorable for the stock market, with its indexes reaching record levels every day while market capitalisation a historical high over the five-day period.

There is an ongoing debate in the share market whether securities on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) are overvalued as the benchmark index shows no signs of slowing down after hitting the historic high last month.

The Dhaka bourse scaled new heights yesterday, crossing 7,000 points as buoyant investors increased their bets in hopes that the market would maintain its upward trend in the coming days.

Stocks of Tamijuddin Textile Mills have skyrocketed tenfold in a span of less than three months since it was relisted at the Dhaka bourse last June.

August was a record-breaking month for the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) as all major market indexes and measures, including market capitalisation, reached historical highs.

Habibur Rahman, a Chattogram-based schoolbag manufacturer, suddenly fell into deep financial peril ever since the coronavirus pandemic first reached Bangladesh in March 2020.

Investor participation in the local stock market’s banking, non-bank financial institution (NBFI), and cement sectors soared last week while the insurance sector was lacklustre in attracting funds.

The stock market regulator has decided to extend loan facilities for investors to buy stocks when the index is at its historical highest level despite analysts’ criticism against loan-based investment in the stock market.

Walton Hi-tech Industries saw its profits double in the recently concluded fiscal 2020-21, riding on higher sales of air conditioners and refrigerators past an earnings decline for the pandemic.

Berger Paints Bangladesh’s profit jumped seven times as its business returned to normalcy in the April to June quarter, recouping the losses incurred a year ago owing to the coronavirus pandemic.

Soaring market capitalisation last week pushed Bangladesh’s stock exchange indices to their highest point since inception in 2013 thanks to increased investor participation.

A recent unusual price hike of the Beacon Pharmaceuticals stock prompted the company to inform investors on July 28 that it had no undisclosed information that could have instigated the rise.

The shares of many low-performing companies might have risen to surprising levels at the Dhaka Stock Exchange in the last one year, but it is the firms with strong earnings and dividend records that contributed most to the premier bourse.

Most listed multinational companies dealing in construction and pandemic-related products were blessed with a higher year-on-year growth in profits in the first half of the current year.

Bangladesh’s stock market remained buoyant for the second consecutive day yesterday, sending the prime index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) to a record high, as investors were upbeat that liquidity flow in the market  would  continue owing to the central bank’s expansionary monetary policy.

Profits of listed shoe-makers of Bangladesh dropped in 2020 despite the drastic fall in the price of rawhides as the sales of the finished products crashed because of the economic slump caused by the pandemic.