Stocks
BSEC fines four investors for rule violations
The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has fined four investors a total of Tk85 lakh for violating rule in Janata Insurance Company’s share transactions.
Of the investors, Md Saif Ullah has been fined Tk40 lakh, AG Mahmud Tk20 lakh, SM Motaharul Janan Tk20 lakh, and Hasina Akther Tk5 lakh. The penalties were imposed in the last week of April.
According to the law, any investor who wants to hold or acquire more than 10% of the shares in a listed company must announce their intention through the stock exchange before the transaction.
However, these investors did not follow this rule and failed to make the necessary announcement.
With this, they transacted shares “unfairly” to make benefits, according to the BSEC officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
This is the third time Md Saif Ullah and AG Mahmud have been fined within a span of one and a half years.
In July 2020, Janata Insurance’s share price was around Tk14.7, which rose 337% to Tk63.2 within nine months without any price-sensitive information, according to the Dhaka Stock Exchange website.
After that, in July 2023, its share price stood at the Tk27 level but rose 83% to Tk49.6 without any valid reason.
Earlier, in March this year, the BSEC also fined Md Saif Ullah and AG Mahmud Tk55 lakh in total for manipulating the share prices of Index Agro Industries, a publicly traded feed maker.
An investigation by the commission found that AG Mahmud and Md Saif Ullah were engaged in manipulating the share prices of Index Agro.
Consequently, the commission fined AG Mahmud Tk25 lakh and Md Saif Ullah Tk30 lakh for violating securities laws by trading shares.
According to the DSE, Index Agro Industries’ share price was around Tk60 in May 2021, which rose 145% to Tk147 in a few months without any available price-sensitive information.
In April 2022, its share price stood at Tk90 but rose 72% to Tk155 without any valid reason.
In October 2022, the commission had fined AG Mahmud and Md Saif Ullah for manipulating share prices as well.
At that time, AG Mahmud was fined Tk3 crore for manipulating the share prices of National Feed Mills, while Md Saif Ullah was fined Tk85 lakh. Saif Ullah was also penalised Tk25 lakh for manipulating Safko Spinning’s shares.
Earlier, the commission had penalised four individuals, including AG Mahmud, Saif Ullah, Kazi Sadia Hasan, and DIT Co-Operative Limited, a total of Tk2.40 crore for manipulating Bangladesh National Insurance Company Limited shares, even though the four investors made a profit of around Tk5 crore from the scheme.
The commission also fined Md Abdul Quader Tk1 lakh for violating rules in share transactions of Regent Textile Mills Limited.
Reviewing the U.S. Stock Markets, the Nasdaq Composite, recorded a decent loss of 1,023 points, reaching a closing value of 16,690 points by the end of the week. Similarly, the S&P 500 index showed a positive trend, losing 240 points to settle at 5,408 points. Meanwhile, DJIA Index experienced a notable hike, adding 1,218 points during the week and concluding at 40,345 points after a week of gaining.
In contrast, Russell 3000 Index saw a loss in week performance, with a slight drop of 141 point to reach 3,077 points by the end of the week.
Moving to Russell 2000 Index, demonstrated a notable lost of 126 points, ending the week at 2,091 points.
In the Outgoing week, the European stock market displayed a mixed performance.
Here is the data on the weekly performance of the European Stock Market, The STOXX Europe 600 index, which is considered a leading benchmark for the European market and covers approximately 90 percent of the market capitalization across 17 countries, reported a loss of 18.49 points to close at 506.56.
The United Kingdom’s FTSE 100, one of the most widely followed indices in Europe, also showed a significant drop, losing 195 points or finishing the session at 8,181.
In Germany, the DAX 30 index, added by 605 points to reach 18,301, while France’s CAC 40 decreased by 278 points to stop at 7,352 at the end of the trading day.
Italy’s FTSE MIB, which covers the top 40 stocks traded on the Milan Stock Exchange, decreased by 1,081 points to 33,291. However, Spain’s IBEX 35, lost by 228 points, to close at 11,173.
A review of South Asian stock markets shows that India’s Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) index BSE Sensex has lost 1,182 points during the week. At the end of the week, the index stood at 82,365 points. On the other hand, the Nifty-50 index of the country’s National Stock Exchange dropped by 383 points last week. At the end of the week, the index stood at 24,852 points.
Pakistan Stock Exchange Index ‘KSE 100’, added 459 points last week. After a week of losing, the index settled at 79,002 points.
On the other hand, The Sri Lankan stock market index loss, and the Colombo Stock Exchange index ‘ASPI’ decreased by 94 points in a week. After a week the index settled at 10,775 points.
Bhutan’s stock market index ‘BSI’ dropped by 9 points hence the index stood at 1,500 points throughout the whole week. Nepal’s ‘NEPSE’ lost 22 points, therefore the index stands at 2,727 points.
Hence Dhaka Stock Exchange: The benchmark index ‘DSEX’ lost by 75.77 points or 1.31 percent, in the outgoing week. At the end of the week, the index stands at 5,728 points.
