DSE goes on 9 day vacation

Trading at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) will remain closed from November 4-12 for weekly holidays, government holidays for Eid-ul-Azha and special holidays.

“The holidays at DSE will start in line with government announcement and continue with additional two days,” DSE senior vice president Ahasanul Islam told UNB over phone on Friday.

Eid-ul-Azha is expected to be celebrated on November 7 and the government will announce holiday from November 6. November 4 and 5 are weekly holidays. — UNB

'You Can't Simply Avoid Share Market'

Senior Awami League MPs have come down hard on the finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith over his remarks on the recent stock market slumps.

Tofail Ahmed, Suranjit Sengupta and Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim launched tirades at Muhith on Thursday at an unscheduled meeting in parliament.

Pointing to Muhith's frustration over the flagging capital market, presidium member Sheikh Selim said, "You can't simply avoid the matter by saying 'I don't understand share market'."

"Make the market stable. Otherwise, the government will face negative reaction from a huge chunk of people."

He said, "You [Muhith] can't call the investors 'fatkabaj' [speculators]. You can't talk in this manner. You can't just ignore them."

A frustrated Muhith on Oct 18 had said, "A slew of measures are being taken to steady the market. Still, it's not returning to normal. I don't know how it will get right."

It's a Strange Sarket: Muhith

Finance minister A M A Muhith has refused to comment on the stock market in parliament, saying his remarks impact the 'strange' market.

Ruling Awami League MP Abdur Rahman in a supplementary question asked Muhith on Thursday why investors' confidence level 'came down to zero' even after the government had taken 'so many' steps.

"This question can't be answered now," Muhith replied.

"When I answer questions, it impacts the market. It's a strange market. No market in the world is like this one," he added.

In reply to another query from Abu Zahir, the finance minister said again no market in the world is similar to that of Bangladesh.

He mentioned several steps taken by the government to stabilise the market.

"You know that we are going to take more steps. We're taking ad hoc steps if the earlier steps failed.

"There is no fault of my ministry or SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission)," he added.

"General people can say whether the market is turning around," he continued.

Responding to a query from S K Abu Baker, he said it is not right that there are three million investors in the capital market.

"Only 1.1 million investors trade in the secondary market through BO (beneficiary owner) accounts."

The minister also said two cases were filed and 14 investigations were launched over stock market scams. "Departmental punishments were also handed down."

Samsung, Google unveil latest Android (Ice Cream Sandwich) Phone

Samsung and Google introduced the high-end model at an event in Hong Kong, after delaying the launch last week as a tribute to the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
Apple is Samsung's biggest customer for microprocessors. "This will be our strategic product for year-end holiday season, as (Apple's) iPhone 4S just came into the market," JK Shin, president and head of Samsung's mobile communications business, said in a pooled report
with reporters ahead of a packed product launch in Hong Kong.
This also marks the first major rollout from