SEC suspends share trading of 28 firms

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) yesterday decided to suspend share trading of 28 companies to protect the interest of investors.
The companies are: Al Amin Chemicals Industries, Ashraf Textile Mills, Bangladesh Chemicals, Bangladesh Dying, Bangladesh Zipper, Beach Hatchery, Chittagong Vegetable, Excelsior Shoes, Gachihata Aquaculture, PMG Industrial Maq Enterprises, Maq Paper, Metalex Corporation, Meghna Condensed Milk, Meghna Pet Limited, Mita Textile, Modern Cement, Padma Printers, Kasem Textile, Rahman Textile, Rangamati Food, Rose Heaven Ball Pen, Sajib Knitwear, Sonali Paper, Sreepur Textile, Tamijuddin Textile, Wonderland Toys and Wata Chemicles. The SEC at a meeting yesterday took the decision, which would be effective from today, an official source said.
It also sent directives to Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) to suspend the share trading of the companies from July 2, 2009.
The SEC also asked the stock exchange authorities to keep share trading of the companies suspended until further notice.
According to a SEC source, the watchdog of the country's stock market would conduct investigations into the companies and would take decision on the findings of the inquiries.
The source said most suspended companies are listed under the 'Z' category - a group of companies those do not have good tract records in making business and profit and offering dividends to its share holders.
The SEC would take similar decision in future if it sees that the things are not going right in the listed companies, the source said. Currently, 93 companies are listed with the DSE under 'Z' category. Of them, nine companies belong to pharmaceuticals and chemicals sector, four cement, six engineering, 22 textile, six insurance, five tannery, 23 food, six paper and printings, four bank, one IT, three jute, one ceramics and three to other sectors.