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The government seems to have kept its tight grip on the corporatised banks still as it has appointed the chief executive officers in Sonali and Janata banks keeping the boards in the dark and ignoring the very spirit of corporatisation.
   The appointments have been made even flouting the clause 15(4) of the Bank Companies Act 1991, which stipulates that the Bangladesh Bank’s permission must be sought before recruiting managing directors.
   SA Chowdhury and SM Aminur Rahman were appointed chief executive officers of Sonali Bank and Janata Bank respectively. They joined the banks on Monday under a World Bank-funded project for three years.
   The finance ministry gave the appointments without consulting the boards.
   The government corporatised three nationalised commercial banks – Sonali, Agrani and Janata – last year in the spirit of ending its influence over their operations.
   Accordingly, the boards of the banks were reshuffled to run those independently towards viability.
   The government should have sought permission from Bangladesh Bank before the appointments, said Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled, former deputy governor of the central bank.
   It would hamper the spirit of corporatisation as the CEOs were appointed by the finance ministry instead of the bank boards, he said.
   ‘If the government had good wishes, it could have asked the bank boards to find competent managing directors for them,’ pointed out Khaled, the newly appointed chairman of state-owned Bangladesh Krishi Bank.
   Appointment of managing director is the most important decision that a bank board can make. But the boards of the corporatised banks were kept out of the process, he said.
   ‘It means the finance ministry still holds its grip over these banks,’ he added.
   Suggesting a way out, the senior banker said the finance ministry could still follow the formalities by sending a letter to the central bank seeking its permission for the appointments.
   The finance ministry was alone involved in the appointment process, said Suhel Ahmed Chowdhury, chairman of Janata Bank.
   ‘It is a World Bank project and the bank board thought that as the ministry was looking after the whole issue, it would be done in the proper manner,’ he said.
   Aminur Rahman joined Janata Bank on Monday with the appointment letter from the ministry and the board did not ask him any question about the central bank approval, he informed.
   Finance adviser AB Mirza Azizul Islam on January 15 at a seminar said boards could play a significant role in bringing good governance in the state-owned enterprises. On several occasions, he asserted that the government would not interfere in the affairs of the corporatised banks and their boards would be independent of the finance ministry in taking all the decisions.

Bangladesh Bank has asked commercial banks to comply with the safe deposit and insurance guidelines to safeguard valuables kept in strong boxes, or risk losing branch licences.
   Insurance has been made mandatory for bank lockers and the insurance guidelines and security features have already been made available to banks.
   Commercial banks have to ensure adequate security and insurance coverage to continue their locker operations, the central bank said in a circular Thursday.
   New security guidelines require the banks to assess security agencies or individuals before appointing them at branches.
   Locations and structures of the buildings that house bank branches must also be taken into consideration, the circular said.
   The banks will have to inform Bangladesh Bank within 30 days that their security arrangements comply with the guidelines.
   If they fail to meet compliances by that time, they would be given another 90 days, the circular said.
   Failure to comply with the guidelines will lead to suspension of safe deposit facilities and even closure of bank branches, it warned.
   Locker holders would be apprised of the insurance policy in advance and maximum and minimum amounts to be covered under the policy.
   It would be corporate group insurance based on categories and sizes of locker, the circular said.
   In case of any damage or loss of the valuables put inside the lockers, the banks would recompense the clients within the limit of the policy and later they (banks) would claim the amount from the insurance companies.
   The recent BRAC Bank gold heist prompted the central bank to formulate security and insurance guidelines for banks’ strong rooms.
   Burglars made off with a huge amount of ornaments and other valuables by breaking into the vault and forcing open 75 lockers of BRAC Bank’s Dhanmondi Branch in Dhaka on January 6.
   ‘This was an eye-opener for us. There were incidents of bank robberies in the past, but this was for the first time in the country’s banking history that valuables were stolen from bank’s lockers,’ a central bank official earlier said.

Stocks rebounded heavily on Thursday after a four-day bear run due to buying spree from investors, cheered by reintroduction of the financial adjustment facility by the SEC with a view to improving liquidity situation at the capital market, said analysts.
   The general index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange recorded its second best single-day rise gaining 95.22 points or 3.39 per cent to close at 2907.17. The benchmark index recorded its highest ever single-day rise with 127.04 points on November 26 last year.
   ‘Reintroduction of netting facility encouraged investors for buying shares, hoping further rise in their prices on implementation of the netting facility,’ said Yawer Sayeed, managing director of the Aims of Bangladesh, an asset management company.
   On Wednesday, the SEC rescinded its previous order allowing investors to enjoy financial adjustment facility against the trading of ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘G’ and ‘N’ categories shares from February 3.
   Under the financial adjustment or netting facility, the investors are allowed to purchase stocks with the sale proceeds immediately after completing a sale.
   The SEC’s move came after a group of retail investors demonstrated in front of the Dhaka Stock Exchange as stock prices fell on Wednesday for the straight fourth day.
   Sayeed said the SEC’s move also eased tension of investors, who were frustrated with the continuous share prices fall due to liquidity crisis. Investors also bought shares to avail the lower prices of the stocks after the previous days’ fall, he added.
   A senior SEC official said Wednesday that the commission had rescinded the suspension order as financial adjustment facility would help improve the liquidity situation in the market which had been going through somewhat shortage of liquidity due to selling off shares of two state-owned companies — Jamuna Oil Company and Meghna Petroleum.
   Up to January 24, Jamuna Oil and Meghna Petroleum took home Tk 376.70 crore after their debuts at the bourses under direct listing regulations.
   On Thursday, DSE blue chips index, DSE20, gained 77.70 points or 3.41 per cent to close at 2359.59.
   Chittagong Stock Exchange’s selective categories index gained 155.04 points or 3.34 per cent to close at 4793.08, while its blue chips index, CSE30, advanced by 219.62 points or 3.38 per cent to close at 6710.70.
   Of the total 238 issues traded at the DSE, 174 advanced, 52 declined and 12 remained unchanged, and out of 124 issues traded at the CSE, 101 post gains, 18 dropped and five remained unchanged.
   Turnover at the DSE also increased to Tk 168.53 crore from the Wednesday’s Tk 165.64 crore and the CSE turnover went up to Tk 35.39 crore from Tk 26.96 crore.
   Meanwhile, the DSE on Thursday halted trading of the shares of United Commercial Bank over the bank’s annual general meeting related issues, said officials.
   ‘We have kept halted the trading of the shares of UCBL temporarily and asked the bank to provide us with information on the status of its AGM held today (Thursday),’ said Salahuddin Ahmed Khan, chief executive officer of the DSE.
   He said the bourse would take its next course of actions after hearing from the bank.

The finance adviser, AB Mirza Azizul Islam, on Thursday said the government would support the moves taken for the development of the stock markets in the South Asian region.
   ‘I am, as finance adviser, doing to my capacity for the growth of the country’s capital market and assure you that the government will also take necessary steps for the development of the stock markets in this region,’ said Mirza Aziz, as chief guest while inaugurating the Second South Asian Capital Markets Conference 2008 at the Sheraton Hotel in Dhaka.
   The South Asian Federation of Exchanges and the Dhaka Stock Exchange jointly organised the two-day conference with the theme of integration of regional markets.
   The finance adviser suggested that the SAFE should address the crucial issues including automated listing, dearth of skilled and trained manpower, application of ICT, consensus of mutual assistance measures to external shock and access to information including the sensitive one in case of suspected money laundering.
   He hoped that the SAFE would take the issues as its targets and its interest would go beyond rhetoric.
   Faruq Ahmad Siddiqi, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said the conference would renew hope of the growth of capital markets in this region.
   Faruq Ahmad, also special guest at the programme, hoped that SAFE initiated regional index would be launched successfully at the stock markets of this region.
   Rajnikant Patel, chairman of the SAFE, and also managing director of the Bombay Stock Exchange, said the conference would facilitate the integration process as regulators, central bankers, brokers, market players and other market intermediaries of the region would attend the conference and exchange their views.
   Aftab Ahmad Ch, secretary general of the SAFE, ‘There will be six sessions of penal discussions in the conference, in which regulators, central bankers, brokers, market players and market intermediaries will take part in discussion.’
   Nasir Ahmed Chowdhury, president of the Chittagong Stock Exchange, and Salahuddin Ahmed Khan, chief executive officer of the DSE, also spoke on the occasion.
   Ahmad Rashid Lali, vice-chairman of the SAFE, and also senior vice-president of the DSE, gave vote of thanks.
   Orgainsers said 13 stock exchanges of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Mauritius, Nepal, Pakistan and Colombo are the members of the SAFE.

MA Kalam, a sponsor director of the United Commercial Bank Ltd, has been elected chairman of the executive committee of the board of directors of UCBL.
   He was unanimously elected executive committee chairman at the emergency board meeting of the bank held at its head office on Wednesday, said a press release.
   MA Kalam was born in Kotwali police station of Chittagong in 1946.
   He is also the chairman of MA Kalam Ltd, Shango Textiles Ltd, United Overseas Ltd and Arab Plantation Ltd.
   MA Kalam visited many countries of the world in connection with trade and industrial development.

Noisy remonstrations by shareholders Thursday morning led the United Commercial Bank Limited to suspend its annual general meeting at Hotel Sonargaon in the city.
   As the anger of shareholders grew against the management of UCBL, Ramna policemen were called in to bring the situation under control and prevent any untoward incident.
   After an hour of failed
   initiatives from the law enforcers to resolve the crisis, the AGM was suspended at around 12.30pm.
   AKM Dowlat Akbar, officer-in-charge of Ramna Police Station, told bdnews24.com that the agitation rose partly from the declaration of dividends for two years only and from the unequal distribution of refreshments.
   ‘There were two groups of shareholders. Some were protesting the inadequate refreshments and some were shouting about the dividend for two years only,’ he said.
   The agitation amplified as time passed despite several attempts from management and law enforcers to control the situation, according to the OC.
   ‘After trying for an hour, we had to shut down the AGM,’ Akbar said.

The Royal Bengal Airlines started operation on the domestic routes on Thursday with flying a flight from Zia International Airport in Dhaka to Sylhet Osmani International Airport.
   The opening flight of the airlines, owned by Royal Bengal Group, a concern of the Non-Resident Bangladeshis, departed the ZIA at 4:30pm and touched the Sylhet airport at around 5:00pm.
   Shahidul Islam, chairman of the Aviation Airways, inaugurated the flight.
   Abdul Kadir Chowdhury, chairman the Royal Bengal Group, inaugurated the Sylhet office of the airlines on Thursday.
   The second flight of the airlines also left for the Chittagong airport from ZIA in at around 7:00pm.

Singapore manufacturers have turned cautious about business prospects in the first half of this year, a government survey released Thursday said, while the world frets over a projected global economic slowdown.
   Ten per cent of companies in the key manufacturing sector expect the general business situation to improve, while eight per cent predict a deterioration, the Economic Development Board said.
   The responses are ‘weighted’ to account for the employment contribution and value added from individual businesses.
   This resulted in a net weighted balance of two per cent expecting the business environment to improve, a weakening of sentiment from the net balance of seven per cent in the same period a year earlier, EDB said in a statement.
   Cautiousness prevailed across almost every manufacturing cluster, including electronics, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and precision engineering, it said.
   But there was optimism among companies in transport engineering, which covers the manufacture of oil drilling rigs as well as ship conversion and repair.
   Firms in this cluster expect a ‘sustained demand for shipyard and conversion services, and a strong backlog of orders for the next six months ending June 2008,’ EDB said.
   Singapore makes most of the world’s offshore oil drilling rigs.
   Transport engineering companies also expect an increased demand for aerospace services as airlines send in their aircraft for maintenance after the peak travel season in December, EDB said.
   A separate survey by Singapore’s statistics department said companies in the services sector were ‘generally optimistic about business conditions’ in the first six months, with hotels being the most optimistic.
   Faced with a slowing US economy, a key market for Singapore exports, the city-state’s trade-reliant economy is expected to grow at a slower pace this year after expanding 7.5 per cent in 2007.
   The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday lowered its 2008 global growth outlook, citing a US financial crisis that is putting emerging economies at risk.

Qamrun Nahar was elected vice-chairperson of the board of directors of United Commercial Bank Ltd in emergency board meeting held in the city on Wednesday, said a press release.
   Qamrun Nahar obtained her BSc (hons) and MSc from Dhaka University. She is chairperson of Dhaka Mohila College and Ananta Group Ltd, managing director of Ananta Properties Ltd and vice-chairperson of Janata Insurance.
   Qamrun Nahar is a life member of Bangladesh Lions Foundation.
   She visited many countries of the world in connection with industrial development.

Hossain Mehmood, director of the City Bank Limited, has been elected vice-chairman of the board of directors of the CBL.
   He was elected at the 345th meeting of the board of directors of the CBL held at its head office in the city recently, said a press release.
   Mehmood, also the managing director of the textile division of Anwar Group of Industries, is a dynamic and promising industrialist of the country.
   Besides, he is also director of the City General Insurance Company Limited, and Bangladesh Finance and Investment Company Limited.

OPEC ministers hinted in Vienna Wednesday that they were unlikely to bow to US pressure for a hike in oil output to further cool crude prices that recently surged to record highs above 100 dollars.
   Oil kingpin Saudi Arabia voiced satisfaction at the present levels of crude supply
   and demand, while other
   key members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries said they did not believe there was a need to change output.
   The 13-member OPEC, which pumps about 40 per cent of world oil, was to hold its latest production meeting in the Austrian capital on Friday.
   ‘The fundamentals are sound,’ Saudi oil minister Ali al-Nuaimi told reporters on arrival in Vienna, as he expressed his views about the current demand and supply situation for crude oil.
   Nuaimi spoke shortly after the oil ministers of influential OPEC members Algeria and Libya said they did not believe there was a need to change the group’s official daily output of 29.67 million barrels at the upcoming get-together.
   ‘I don’t think at this moment that we should take any action,’ Libya’s oil chief Shukri Ghanem told reporters in Vienna on Wednesday.
   ‘I think we have to take a look at the market and then decide,’ he added.
   Algeria’s energy minister Chakib Khelil said oil stocks were at ‘a good level’ and demand was going to drop in the second quarter.
   ‘I am not sure there is a need to increase’ output, he added.
   US president George W Bush recently urged OPEC to increase output to help cool prices, which hit record highs above 100 dollars a barrel at the start of January. On Wednesday New York crude closed above 92 dollars — still almost double the level of a year ago.
   Asked if he was concerned that prices had slipped from a high of 100.09 dollars reached in New York on January 4, Ghanem said: ‘We are not worried so far but we might be a little concerned.’
   Analysts said OPEC was likely to keep output on hold Friday.
   ‘We maintain our view for no change in the group’s crude supply, as suggested in the latest comments from the group’s members, despite persistent calls from major consuming nations’ for a hike, said Sucden analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov in London.
   Experts add that OPEC is concerned that oil demand and prices may fall sharply should there be a US recession.
   The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday trimmed its key interest rate by a half-point to 3.0 per cent — its second cut in eight days to help the world’s biggest economy that some say is on the brink of recession.
   The action came a week after an emergency cut of 0.75 percentage points.
   OPEC’s meeting on Friday is an ‘extraordinary’ get-together that was scheduled at its last official gathering on December 5 in Abu Dhabi.
   There, OPEC decided against increasing production, insisting the market was well supplied and that high prices were caused by speculative activity, not a reaction to the actual demand and supply situation.
   In its monthly report published last week, the influential Centre for Global Energy Studies accused OPEC of deliberately restricting oil supply early last year and of keeping a tight grip on output levels in mid-2007.
   OPEC has maintained its estimate for 2008 growth in world oil demand, arguing that while high prices would brake demand in major industrialised countries, the market would continue to hold up in emerging powers such as China and India.
   OPEC comprises Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
   Iraq is the only member without an output quota owing to unrest in the country, while analysts say OPEC is in fact producing above its official ceiling by about 180,000 barrels of oil each day.

Nearly 10,000 workers went on strike at a Hong Kong-owned Vietnam toy factory, the latest in a rash of labour disputes amid double-digit inflation ahead of the Tet lunar New Year, state media said.
   The workers at the Keyhinge Toy plant in the central city of Danang walked off the job Wednesday, demanding higher bonuses and longer holidays for Tet, the country’s most important festival next week, one of the workers told AFP.
   ‘Many of us live very far away, as far north as Thai Nguyen province,’ another worker reportedly told the Lao Dong (Labour) newspaper. ‘With this low bonus and short holiday, we can’t even manage to go home for Tet.’
   The plant run by the Keyhinge Industrial Company was criticised in the late 1990s by international labour rights activists who charged its factory, then making Disney promotional toys for McDonalds, exploited workers.
   The industrial action there this week was one of several strikes in foreign-owned plants in Vietnam, a low-wage economy of 86 million and also a major exporter of textiles, footwear, electronics and food products.
   Also Wednesday thousands of labourers downed tools at a Hyundai-Vinashin shipbuilding plant in southern Khanh Hoa provice and a Vietnamese seafood plant in Hau Giang province, the Tien Phong (Pioneer) daily reported.
   The recent spate of industrial disputes has hit mostly foreign owned factories in the main industrial region around southern Ho Chi Minh City.
   Prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung has issued a directive that groups and individuals who strike must compensate their employers if a court later finds they violated Vietnamese labour laws, the official government website said.
   Vietnam on January 1 raised the monthly minimum wage for labourers to 540,000 dong ($34) and at least 800,000 dong for workers in foreign-invested enterprises, the state-run Vietnam News Agency reported.
   But workers have complained the wage rise has not kept pace with spiralling food, fuel and other consumer prices that have hit the poor the hardest.
   The government-run General Statistics Office this week estimated that consumer prices rose by over 14 per cent in January from a year earlier.
   Vietnam bans labour unions that are independent of the ruling Communist Party, and industrial relations experts say that most workplaces currently lack transparent arbitration mechanisms to settle labour disputes.
   Last month Vietnam jailed the founders of the banned United Workers-Farmers Organisation, which demands the right to form independent labour unions, for ‘abusing democracy and freedoms to infringe on the interests of the state.’

Ministers from eight European nations, led by France and Germany, have written to the European Commission criticising its plans to force energy giants to split in two and offering an alternative.
   The letter, received by EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs on Thursday, speaks of ‘several crucial doubts ... concerning the legality, opportunity, proportionality and efficiency,’ of the European Commission’s plans.
   Neither the EU’s impact assessment, nor the policy debate over the last few months have dissipated these ‘serious concerns,’ it added.
   The letter was sent by the economy ministers from Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Latvia, Luxembourg and Slovakia, as well as the French ecology minister, and Greek development minister.
   EU officials want to increase competition in the energy sector by separating, or ‘unbundling’ energy production and distribution activities, amid sharply rising prices.
   The Commission’s preferred plan of ‘ownership unbundling,’ forcing energy companies to get rid of one sector of their activities in the supply chain ‘is not compatible with constitutional law and with the free movement of capital,’ the eight national ministers said in their letter.
   They also said that it was not ‘a sufficient and appropriate tool to deliver additional opening of the European gas and electricity markets’ to reach the agreed objective of guaranteeing adequate investment in the networks and fostering the integration of national markets.

US economic growth slowed dramatically during the last three months of 2007 to a 0.6 per cent annual crawl amid a worsening housing slump, a government report showed Wednesday.
   The Commerce Department survey revealed that fourth-quarter growth in the world’s biggest economy was much weaker than economists’ expectations of a 1.2 per cent pace.
   Gross domestic product growth sharply declined from a 4.9 per cent annualised pace in the third quarter, decelerating to its weakest level since the fourth quarter of 2002.
   Economists blamed the slowdown on the ailing housing market and companies cutting their inventories as fears mount that the giant US economy could be falling into a recession.
   ‘The economy came to a screeching halt at the end of last year, but that does not mean we are in or even headed for a recession,’ said Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisers.
   The Federal Reserve and the administration of president George W Bush are trying to bolster growth to avoid a recession, recognised as two straight quarters of negative growth.

Spain’s king Juan Carlos Wednesday opened the FITUR tourist trade fair, one of the world’s largest, with a plea to thousands of industry professionals to use tourism to help eradicate poverty.
   ‘Tourism is a driver of understanding between peoples. It is an effective instrument with which to eradicate poverty and to improve the legitimate aspirations and well-being of citizens,’ he said in an inaugural speech.
   The 28th annual FITUR in Madrid is hosting 13,300 companies from 170 countries who will be seeking the business of around 250,000 visitors, some 150,000 of them professionals, before the event closes on Sunday.
   The UN World Tourism Organisation prefaced the event on Tuesday by announcing that developing nations drove up global tourism arrivals by 6.2 per cent last year to a record of almost 900 million.
   UNWTO secretary general Francesco Frangialli said the figures demonstrated ‘tourism’s potential for the developing world.’
   The head of the African Travel and Tourism Association, Nigel Vere Nicoll, underscored this.
   ‘Every 10 tourists to Africa create one job, and one job feeds about 10 people,’ he told AFP Wednesday.
   New participants at FITUR this year are Bhutan, Greenland, Madagascar and the West African archipelago of Sao Tome and Principe. Azerbaijan, Zimbabwe and Niger have returned for a second year.
   Exhibitors from the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas and Africa are up by 18, 17 and 14 per cent respectively, reflecting ‘the growth of the international dimension of the fair,’ FITUR said.
   The head of Bhutan’s tourism department, Lhatu Wangchuk, said the isolated Himalayan kingdom decided to make its debut at the fair after developing its tourist infrastructure.
   ‘We are here because our capacity to receive more tourists is improving, so we need to get into promotion, but in a subdued way,’ he told AFP.
   ‘Foreign exchange revenue and employment are important to us,’ he said, adding that tourism is currently the country’s fourth biggest earner, but is expected to be the second within five years.
   ‘We are looking for tourists at the high-end of the market in Europe, the US and Japan,’ he said.

The Southeast Bank Limited opened its 40th branch at Pahartoli of Chittagong on Sunday.
   Alamgir Kabir, chairman of the Southeast Bank, inaugurated the bank branch at a ceremony as chief guest, said a press release.
   Former chairman of the bank Azirn Uddin Ahmed, director Sirat Monira, former directors Duluma Ahmed and Humayun Kabir, company secretary M Shahjahan, and local industrialists, businessmen, educationists, and elites, were present on the occasion.

The Local Enterprise Investment Centre, a private sector development project managed by the IDLC Finance Limited and financed by the Canadian International Development Agency, held its fourth meeting of its steering committee recently in the Dhaka city.
   Rajani Alexander, counsellor and head of development cooperation of the Canadian high commission, presided over the meeting, said a press release.
   Md Murshid Kuli Khan, deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank, Farooq Sobhan, president of Bangladesh Enterprise Institute, Syed Manzur Elahi, administrator of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Rokia A Rahman, president of Bangladesh Federation of Women Entrepreneurs, Amjad Khan Chowdhury, president of Bangladesh Agro-Processors’ Association, M Kamal Uddin, director of Institute of Appropriate Technology of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Hossain Khaled, president of Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Omar Farooq Khan, senior development adviser of Canadian high commission and Anis A Khan, CEO and MD of IDLC were present among others in the meeting.

European shares dived again on Thursday as the second Federal Reserve interest rate cut in just under a week failed to reassure investors that a US recession was not on the cards, analysts said.
   Most Asian stock markets had risen earlier on Thursday after the Fed slashed US rates by a half-point, but Japan’s rally aside, gains were modest due to lingering worries about the health of the American economy.
   The Fed’s interest rate reduction on Wednesday to 3.0 per cent came just eight days after an emergency cut of 0.75 per centage points in the face of a global stock market rout. Lower borrowing costs normally boost equities because they lift company profits, reduce loan repayments and raise consumers’ incomes.
   However in Europe on Thursday, London’s FTSE 100 index of top shares sank 1.16 per cent to 5,773.00 points, the Paris CAC 40 shed 1.33 per cent to 4,808.70 and Frankfurt’s DAX 30 dropped 1.47 per cent to 6,774.72.
   ‘When a market declines after the Fed cuts rates by a total of one and a quarter per centage points in nine days, that’s a weak market,’ said Tom Hougaard, chief market strategist at City Index.

The dollar sank close to a record low point against the European single currency on Thursday, one day after the US Federal Reserve delivered another steep interest rate cut.
   In early European trading, the euro surged to 1.4914 dollars — which was not far from the record high 1.4967 hit on November 23. The single currency later stood at 1.4838 dollars, down from 1.4861 dollars in New York late on Wednesday.
   But the dollar edged up to 106.55 yen from 106.24 yen.
   The US central bank slashed its main interest rate on Wednesday by half-a-per centage point to 3.0 per cent in a bid to shore up economic growth.
   The Fed had already cut its key lending rate by three quarters of a per centage point in a surprise move just eight days ago.
   ‘The dollar softened as the interest rate differential element came back in the limelight,’ said CIBC economist Audrey Childe-Freeman.
   Currency speculators typically prefer to invest in countries where interest rates are strong or expected to rise so they can reap higher returns.
   With Japan’s interest rates standing at just 0.5 per cent, analysts were cautious about prospects for the yen.
   ‘I am bearish (negative) on the yen,’ said Mark Wan, chief analyst at Hang Seng Investment Services Ltd.
   ‘While I don’t believe that the US economy will be in a recession, any slowdown in the US will be bad for Japan’s trade balance,’ he said.
   The Fed cut rates on Wednesday shortly after a government report revealed that US economic growth slowed dramatically to a 0.6 per cent annualised clip during the 2007 fourth quarter. Many dealers are betting that the US central bank will reduce interest rates even further to try to cushion the world’s largest economy from a housing slump and related credit crunch.
   The Federal Open Market Committee warned that financial markets ‘remain under considerable stress’.
   ‘Moreover, recent information indicates a deepening of the housing contraction as well as some softening in labour markets,’ it noted.
   The statement was seen by most analysts as leaving the door open for further cuts, dealers said.
   Markets see a 100 per cent chance of a US rate cut of at least 25 basis points on March 18 and a 52 per cent chance of a 50-basis-point cut, said John Noonan, a currency analyst at Thomson IFR.
   In Europe on Thursday, the euro changed hands at 1.4838 dollars against 1.4861 late Wednesday, at 157.97 yen, 0.7466 pounds and 1.6068 Swiss francs.
   The dollar stood at 106.55 yen and 1.0828 Swiss francs.
   The pound was at 1.9877 dollars. On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold later stood at 921.10 dollars an ounce, up from 919 dollars late on Wednesday.

World oil prices fell heavily on Thursday, the eve of a crucial OPEC output meeting, as traders looked to rising energy reserves in key consumer the United States.
   New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March, shed 1.16 dollars to 91.17 dollars per barrel.
   Brent North Sea crude
   for March delivery fell
   1.07 dollars to 91.46 dollars a barrel.
   The oil market was boosted on Wednesday after the US Federal Reserve slashed a half-point from its key interest rate to ward off recessionary risks in the US economy.
   But on Thursday, traders retraced their steps as they concentrated on news of buoyant US energy stockpiles.
   ‘Once anticipation of a move from the US central bank was over, investors turned their attention back to US fuel inventories figures, showing yet another rise in crude stocks,’ said Sucden analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov.
   The US Energy Information Administration said that American crude inventories had jumped 3.6 million barrels in the week ending January 25.

Profit
   Quasem Drycells
   As per un-audited half yearly accounts as on December 31, 2007, the company has reported net profit of Tk. 10.66 m with EPS of Tk 0.56 as against last year's half yearly of Tk 1.42 m and Tk. 0.07 respectively.
   
   Dulamia Cotton
   As per un-audited half yearly accounts as on December31, 2007, the company has reported net profit of Tk 0.95 m with EPS of Tk 1.25 as against last year's half yearly of Tk 1.91 m and Tk 2.53 respectively. Accumulated loss of the Company was Tk 162.41 m as on December 31, 2007.
   
   Saiham Textile
   As per un-audited half yearly accounts as on December 31, 2007, the company has reported net profit of Tk 5.29 m with EPS of Tk 4.23 as against last year's half yearly of Tk 3.26 m and Tk 2.61 respectively.
   
   Fu Wang Food
   As per un-audited half yearly accounts as on December 31, 2007, the company has reported net profit of Tk 10.22 m with EPS of Tk 0.56 as against last year's half yearly of Tk 10.80 m and Tk 0.59 respectively.
   Source: DSe, CSE

BRAC-Citi launch financial education needs report
A report produced by BRAC UK and financed by Citi Foundation found that British-Bangladeshi women and young people living in Tower Hamlets lack educational and employment opportunities. Based on the results of the survey, Citi Foundation is launching a grant designed to increase the opportunities for this community, said a press release. The report entitled ‘Assessment of the Financial Education Needs and Opportunities of British-Bangladeshi Women and Young People in Tower Hamlets’ was presented at an event at Citigroup Centre in London recently. The study involved 200 British-Bangladeshi women and 100 young people living in Tower Hamlets. The study found that 51 per cent of the respondents have no formal education and difficulty with the English language and 71.3 per cent are unemployed. These deficiencies prevent them from accessing the job market, social services and participating in community activities.
— New Age

BSC to become PLC by July 1
Shipping adviser MA Matin on Thursday announced before disenchanted discontent shareholders that beleaguered Bangladesh Shipping Corporation would be made a public limited company by July 1. Senior BSC officials faced the wrath of the general shareholders at the annual general meeting of the state-run organisation Thursday over the BSC sliding into a less profitable concern. The shareholders expressed the fear that the organisation might not exist in the next five years if the situation persisted and urged authorities to intervene to save it. Matin, also BSC chairman, who presided over the AGM at the BSC auditorium in the port city, said the deplorable state was unacceptable. ‘I’m not at all satisfied with the present activities. Here the achievement is way short of the expectation. I have no hesitation in accepting the failures of the BSC in the present situation, but this must change.’ He directed the BSC officials to start work to fulfil the demand of the shareholders after the AGM.
— bdnews24.com