market Disclosures

Peoples Insurance

Md Farhad Ahmed Akanda, one of the sponsors/directors of the company, has reported his intention to sell 1,50,000 shares out of his total holdings of 14,38,547 shares of the company at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.

BOC

Trading of the shares of the company will be allowed only in the spot market and block/odd lot transactions will also be settled as per spot settlement cycle with cum benefit from July 28 to August 1. Trading of the shares of the company will remain suspended on record date on August 2 for entitlement of interim dividend.

Grameenphone

Trading of the shares of the company will remain suspended on record date today for entitlement of interim dividend.

Karnaphuli Insurance

Ummu Kawser Salsabil, one of the sponsors/directors of the company, has reported her intention to sell 75,000 shares out of her total holdings of 5,10,594 shares of the company at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.

Mercantile Bank

AKM Shaheed Reza, one of the sponsors/directors of the bank, has reported his intention to sell 5,000 shares out of his total holdings of 1,62,219 shares of the bank at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.

Islamic Finance & Investment

Liaquat Hossain Moghul, one of the sponsors/directors of the company, has reported his intention to sell 10,000 shares out of his total holdings of 1,59,524 shares of the company at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.

Mercantile Insurance Co

Farhana Islam Sonia, one of the sponsors/directors

of the company, has reported her intention to sell 1,550 shares out of her total holdings of 27,909 shares of the company at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.

Bd Thai Aluminium

Zahid Maleque, one of the sponsors/directors of the company, has reported his intention to sell 50,000 shares out of his total holdings of 5,31,925 shares of the company at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.

Federal Insurance

Muhammed Abdul Khaleque, one of the sponsors/directors of the company, has reported his intention to sell 60,000 shares out of his total holdings of 2,88,260 shares of the company at prevailing market price through the stock exchange within next 30 working days.

Navana CNG

The board of directors has recommended 18 per cent cash dividend and 14 per cent stock dividend for the year ended on March 31, 2011. The AGM will be held on September 22 at 9:30am at Bashundhara Convention Centre at Baridhara in Dhaka. Record date will be on August 7.  The board has also recommended to increase the authorised share capital of the company from Tk 50 crore to Tk 150 crore (subject to the approval by the shareholders in the general meeting).

    Source: DSE

Source : New Age

Toyota to boost output capacity in India

Toyota Motor Corp said on Wednesday it would spend an additional 17.2 billion yen ($220 million) to boost output capacity in India to 310,000 vehicles a year in 2013, in its second announcement of an expansion there in as many months.

Exactly a month ago, the world's biggest automaker said it would raise capacity in India

to 210,000 vehicles a

year in the first half of 2012, investing about 4.9 billion yen.

Source : New Age

BB Khulna office gets automated clearing house

The Bangladesh Bank on Wednesday inaugurated automated clearing house in its Khulna office.

Deputy governor of the central bank Mohammad Abul Kashem inaugurated the automated clearing house as chief guest in a ceremony.

Speakers in the ceremony said with the start of the automated clearing house the customers would now get secured and fast service from the bank.

BB executive director Das Gupta Ashim Kumar and Sonali Bank Khulna general manager Mohammad Shawkat Ali attended the programme as special guests. Bangladesh Bank Khulna general manager AKM Fazlur Rahman chaired the function.

Officials of a number of state-owned and private banks also attended.

Source : New Age

Digital Bangladesh won’t be possible without serious govt initiative: businesses

The business community on Monday said that implementation of Digital Bangladesh would not be possible without adequate infrastructural development in information technology, tax cut and digitalisation of the government secretariat first.

They said the private sector could work together with the government to face the challenges in implementing Digital Bangladesh in providing the IT-based services throughout the country.

They were speaking at a seminar on Digital Bangladesh: Private Sector Perspective, organised by Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and industry at its auditorium.

Prime Minister's personal secretary-1 and also the project director of Access to Information, Nazrul Islam Khan, presented the keynote paper at the seminar presided over by FBCCI president AK Azad.

Speaking on the occasion, Bangladesh Computer Samity president Mostafa Jabbar said that the government was yet to facilitate the information and communication technology sector for achieving the goal of digital Bangladesh.

'Although the government reduced the bandwidth fee to Tk 10,000 from Tk 27,000 six months ago, the gazette in this regard has not been published yet. So the consumers cannot avail the opportunity, said Jabbar.

He said that the government imposed 15 percent value added tax on internet service in this fiscal year though the businesses had urged it not to impose VAT on the IT services.

'I don't understand how it could be possible to digitalise 5 lakh class rooms across the country imposing increased tax on the internet service,' said the BCS president.

He also suggested that the government should digitalise the secretariats first, and then extend the digitalisation across the country. Otherwise, implementation of Digital Bangladesh would not be possible, he added.

FBCCI former vice-president Dewan Sultan Ahmed said that digitalisation should start from top government activities spreading it to the bottom of the country to ensure E-governance and E-commerce.

Sultan Ahmed claimed that the price of digital projector increased to $750 from $300 as the government increased duty on import of projector.

He said that the government's plan to provide a projector to each school could not be possible if the price of projector was not reduced.

AK Azad said the country has much shortage of ICT-based proper education, skilled human resource and professionalism. Professional management and finance crisis in ICT sector constraints to software development.

'Access to internet with a low cost and uninterrupted power supply across the country are required for digitalisation,' said Azad adding that the government should work with the private sector and other stakeholders to overcome the challenges.

FBCCI directors Abdul Huq, Obidur Rahman and Abul Kashem also spoke at the session.

Source : New Age

Dhaka stocks dip

Dhaka stocks had a bumpy ride on Wednesday with DGEN, the benchmark general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, continuing to fall for the third straight day, following the government decision to offload more shares of the listed state-run enterprises and the latest monetary policy announced by the central bank.

The DGEN lost 14.28 points, or 0.21 per cent, to close the day at 6,627.75 points.

Turnover on the bourse, however, increased to Tk 1,727.63 crore on Wednesday from that of Tk 1,680.70 crore on the previous day as the sellers outnumbered the buyers.

Market operators said the investors went for sell-offs in the opening hour on the day as they anticipated the market would be volatile because of increased share supply following Tuesday's government announcement to offload more shares of Jamuna Oil and Meghna Petroleum.

'Although the two companies had seen their share prices to fall on Tuesday but they made surprising gain today,' said a DSE stockbroker.

He also said the monetary policy announced for the first half of the current fiscal year also made the investors shaky on Wednesday.

Bangladesh Bank on Wednesday announced the monetary policy for the July-December period of the current fiscal year. The BB said the policy was aimed at squeezing money supply to unproductive sectors and squeezing money supply to unproductive sectors and discouraging speculative usage of money, like investment in the capital market.

Trading on the DSE was volatile on Wednesday as the DGEN lost 49 points in first five minutes from the opening. The index, however, gained 53 points in the next 10 minutes. The index had lost 60 points by around 1pm but started moving upward in the closing hours, finally ending the day in red.

Mahmood Osman Imam, a professor of finance at Dhaka University, said, 'The market correction in the last two days was natural as it had seen a gaining streak for a long time.' 

He termed offloading shares of state-owned enterprises was a good move in the current market condition.

'In an upmarket new shares will attract more investors and people always have faith in government shares,' he said. 

Mahmood Osman, however, said the companies should be more transparent in publishing their financial statements.

Asked about the impacts of the new monetary policy on the capital market, he said, 'If the policy does not encourage investment in the capital market, it should give a clear picture to the investors at the beginning. Otherwise, any last minute regulations would have more adverse impacts.'

Of the 263 issues traded on Wednesday, 114 advanced, 135 declined, and 14 remained unchanged. 

Source : New Age

Speakers for rickshaws until alternative transport introduced

Rights activists on Wednesday urged the government to withdrawal the restrictions on rickshaw movement on various roads that led to the capital's important establishments, including schools and colleges, until ensuring alternative transport.

They made the call under the banner of the Bangladesh Legal Aid Services Society at a press briefing at the Law Reporters' Forum's office in the Supreme Court Bar Association's building in Dhaka.

The activists complained that the Dhaka Metropolitan Police traffic department had imposed restrictions on rickshaws from entering the roads stretching from Malibagh, Shantinagar, Bijoynagar, Purana Paltan, Naya Paltan, Rajarbagh, Shahjahanpur, Segunbagichha to Motijheel, causing worries to the people who dependent on rickshaws for movement.

'The guardians, who usually use rickshaws to carry their children from schools and colleges to residences at the areas, are seriously being affected by the decision,' said the organisation president, ABM Waliur Rahman Khan.

He also sought the prime minister's intervention to allow rickshaw movement in the areas to relieve suffering of the dwellers, whose only mode of transport was rickshaws.

Waliur also suggested that the government should reintroduce lane-system in all busy roads in order to allow rickshaw movement in the areas.    

Source : New Age

Pabna Cadet College first in REB

Pabna Cadet College secured first position in the Rajshahi Education Board Higher Secondary Certificate examinations results for the second consecutive years.

College administration informed that all of its 44 students, who took the examinations this year, secured Grade Point Average 5.

Of them 40 were from science group while the rest were from humanities.

The college principal, Joyen Uddin, said that their success was the result of the hard labour of both the students and teachers.

Source : New Age

Leaders demand trade union rights in RMG sector

Politicians and labour leaders on Wednesday at a discussion meeting demanded implementation of trade unionism in the garment industries.

The flourishing apparel sector of the country is facing various movements due to lack of trade union rights in the garment factories, said the coordinator of the Sramik Karmachari Oikya Parishad, Wazedul Islam Khan.

Industries minister Dilip Barua said that the Awami League-led governmentwould soon scrap the laws that violate the rights of the workers to form trade unions.

The National Garment Workers Federation, a rights body working in support of the workers in the garment sector, organised the discussion meeting at the Dhaka Reporters Unity to mark its 27th founding anniversary.

The discussion, chaired by the Federation's president Amirul Haque Amin, was addressed by Workers Party's general secretary Anisur Rahman Mollick.

Source : New Age

Five media people summoned

A Dhaka court has summoned the editor and publisher, and the executive editor of Bangla national daily Jugantor; a reporter of daily Samakal, and the editor and publisher, and a reporter of daily Aparadh Kantha in three separate defamation cases.

Three metropolitan magistrates of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court issued the summons on Tuesday in response to three separate cases filed by Union Group chairman Rana Shafiullah.

The accused are Jugantor editor and publisher Salma Islam and executive editor Saiful Islam, Aparadh Kantha editor and publisher Rashedul Hasan, its reporter Delwar Hossain, and Samakal reporter Hakikat Jahan Haki.

Magistrate AGM Al-Masud directed the editor and the executive editor of Jugantor to appear before it on September 5.

Another magistrate Harun-or Rashid directed the editor and the reporter of Aparadh Kantha to appear before it on Aug 25, while magistrate Shamsul Islam directed the Samakal reporter to appear before it on September 5.

According to the case details, Jugantor and Samakal on July 20 published two separate news titled 'Billionaire from slum boy selling stolen wine: Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) to probe Rana's illegally earned wealth' and 'ACC asks Rana Shafiullah, his wife to submit wealth statements', respectively.

On the other hand, Aparadh Kantha on July 21 published another report titled 'At last Rana, his wife given notice by ACC'.

The plaintiff in his case said that the reports were completely false, defamatory and baseless.

Source : New Age

Five Hizb ut-Tahrir men held in city

Law-enforcers in separate drives in the capital on Wednesday arrested five people including four students on charge of being involved with the banned Islamic organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh.

A team of Rapid Action Battalion arrested Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh chapter senior adviser Mahmudul Bari, 41, at Shahjalal International Airport at around 1pm, said RAB legal and media wing deputy director major Khurshid Alam.

Mahmudul Bari, managing director of Silver Sand Reality, a real estate firm, was scheduled to leave for Malaysia later in the afternoon.

Bari allegedly had been playing a key role in the organisation after the arrest of senior Hizb ut-Tahrir leaders including Mohiuddin Ahmed, Golam Moula, and Kazi Morshedul Huq, RAB officials claimed.

Earlier at about 6am, the Gulshan police arrested four students of Southeast University at Banani when they were pasting posters of Hizb ut-Tahrir on roadside walls in the area. The posters were inscribed with anti-government statements.

The arrested students were Anisur Rahman, 24, Sabbir Ahmed Bhuiyan, 21, Afzal Hossain, 21, and Maruf Islam Nadim, 20.

The police also recovered a large quantity of leaflets and other publications from their possession, said additional deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Masudur Rahman.

Earlier on October 22, 2009, the government banned the Hizb ut-Tahrir Bangladesh in the interest of public security.

Source : New Age

Tongi-Bhairab Bazar rail road to be double-line

Bangladesh Railway on Wednesday signed an agreement with a Chinese company for making double-line the Tongi-Bhairab Bazar stretch of Dhaka-Chittagong railway line.

The 64-kilometre double-line would be constructed at a cost of around Tk 1,405 crore, railway sources said.

Bangladesh Railway director general and China Railway Group Limited Web Dong deputy managing director inked the agreement at a function at Rail Bhaban for their respective sides.

Communications minister Syed Abul Hossain and Chinese ambassador in Dhaka Zhang Xianyi were present.

Speaking on the occasion, the communications minister said the government had undertaken a project to turn 125-kilometre corridor of 320-kilometre Dhaka-Chittagong rail line into a double-line with the existing 124-kilometre double-line.

He said the government had approved a project for procurement of commuter trains with its own resources and these trains would ply Dhaka, Narayanganj, Joydevpur, Tongi, Mymensingh and Sirajganj routes.

The train services would help reducing traffic congestion improving connectivity between Dhaka and surrounding districts, the minister said, adding that the programmes undertaken by the government for development of railway sector would be visible to people by 2012.

Railway division secretary M Ebadat Ali, project director Sagar Krishna Chakraborty, representative of the ADB and senior officials of the railway were present.

Asian Development Bank would provide Tk 1,331 crore of the projects and the rest of the amount would be given by the government.

Source : New Age

2 cops wounded in B‘baria

Two policemen were injured in an attack by extortionists in Maddhapara area in Brahmanbaria town on Wednesday noon.

The inured are policemen Abdul Bari and Alauddin. The police said local people caught a miscreant, Sadhan, when he went for toll money.

 They beat him before handing him over to the police who arrested and admitted him to hospital.

All on a sudden he attacked the police.

Source : New Age

6 killed on Mawa road

Six people were killed and 20 others injured in a road accident at Nimtoli under Serajdikhan upazila on Dhaka-Maowa highway at 12.15pm on Wednesday.

Injured persons were admitted to different hospitals. Local people blocked the road after the accident.

Serajdikhan police officer-in-charge Mahbubur Rahman said a Dhaka bound passenger bus from Maowa tried to escape after hitting an auto-rickshaw and again dashed another bus and a passenger carrying vehicle.

A total of six persons were killed and 20 injured in the accident.

Source : New Age