24 HOT NEWS OF THE WORLD: Sheikh Helal to be Bagherhat-1 MP

DSE turnover tops Tk 9 bn mark

Dhaka, June 30 —Turnover on the Dhaka Stock Exchange on Tuesday crossed the Tk 9 billion mark for the first time ever, as investors shrugged off a hoax bomb threat that shut trading an hour earlier than the scheduled a day before. Daily turnover touched a new high at Tk 9.42 billion on the day the parliament passed the budget for FY 2009-10, smashing the previous high of Tk 8.34 billion on June 21. This is the fourth time this month that the daily transactions have leapt to a new height. On June 4 and 11, turnover on the bourse touched Tk 6.72 billion. It soared to Tk 7.81 billion on June 7. "This is what should happen…it is a positive sign that investment rose up despite the bomb threat yesterday [Monday]," Yaweer Sayeed, CEO of an asset management firm, told bdnews24.com. Usually, the last day of the financial year witnesses increased transactions, he added. "Institutional investors contributed heavily to Tuesday's turnover as they had to trade a lot on the last day [of the fiscal year] due to portfolio balancing," added Sayeed, who heads AIMS of Bangladesh. Salahudddin Ahmed Khan, former CEO of DSE, agreed with the investment manager. "The closing day's transaction is mostly due to institutional investors' trading." The amendments to budget, including some duty cuts, also induced the hike, added Khan, a professor of finance at the University of Dhaka. "But it's really good to see that investors knocked off the terrorist threat." The Chittagong Stock Exchange also saw a higher turnover, topping the 1 billion mark. Transactions reached to Tk 1.19 billion from trading of almost seven and a half million shares. The highest ever turnover on the port city bourse was Tk 1.63 billion on June 24. The total turnover of the country's twin bourses on Tuesday reached Tk 10.61 billion, also a new record. The previous high was at Tk 9.30 billion on June 21. Authorities had halted transactions at 1:15pm and then evacuated the building on Monday after the bomb threat was made over phone by an anonymous caller that the stock building will be blown off soon. The caller said that a bomb had been kept inside the building. The, an official said . DSE senior vice-president Saiful Islam told bdnews24.com on Monday that the hoax bomb threat was was to panic the investors. He said that 'a certain quarter' was trying to upset the market, which has been seeing rises over the past few days . "Dhaka Stock Exchange is one of the biggest organisations of the country...we think the move to create panic was aimed to unstable the [entire country]," Islam said.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Sheikh Helal to be Bagherhat-1 MP

Dhaka, Mar 14 (bdnews24.com)—Sheikh Hasina's cousin Sheikh Helal Uddin on Saturday was all set to become MP for Bagherhat-1, one of the two seats vacated by the prime minister. Sheikh Helal is the son Sheikh Naser Rahman, younger brother of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Both were killed on Aug 15, 1975, along with other members of the family. Voting was due on Apr 2 for the seat as well as six other constituencies, but two other Bagherhat candidates failed to pass the EC scrutiny. The last date for appeal against the EC decision was Saturday. Nazmul Hasan, the EC official in charge of receiving appeals, told bdnews24.com that he had not received any appeal till 5pm. "He is all set to become MP, but a formal announcement will be made on Mar 19, the last day of nomination withdrawal," EC deputy secretary Mihir Sarwar Morshed told bdnews24.com. Meanwhile, three Rangpur-6 candidates Saturday challenged the EC decision cancelling their nominations. Motaharul Huq Bablu, Nur Alam Miah and Haider Rahman Miah, all independent candidates, were rejected by the EC on Mar 11. They were among 10 such candidates rejected by the EC. Rangpur-6 was also won by Sheikh Hasina in the Dec 29 election. Of the other five vacated seats, Khaleda Zia won Bogra 6-7, H M Ershad Rangpur-3 and Kurigram-2 and president Md Zillur Rahman Kishoreganj-6.