Haque Specialized Group's News

Dhaka Inter-Bank Offered Rate (DIBOR) has started this week transaction with 3.6221 per cent. It was the overnight closing rate on Thursday, according to the Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers’ Association (BAFEDA). The last week transaction also closed with 4.3245 per cent weekly DIBOR rate which was 5.1194 per cent for 1-month and 6.5164 per cent for 3-month tenure. All the rates are annual and released by the BAFEDA regularly.   ....

Published at: 2017-07-16 00:00:05

Anglo-Dutch conglomerate Unilever (ULVR.L)(UNc.AS) is vying with US canned meat producer Hormel Foods Corp (HRL.N) to buy the foods division of British consumer goods maker Reckitt Benckiser, the Sunday Times newspaper reported, citing sources.  Unilever and Hormel are front-runners in a deal that is likely to top 2.2 billion pounds ($2.9 billion), the unidentified sources told the Sunday Times. Earlier this month Reckitt (RB.L), which owns the French's mustard brand, trimmed its sales forecasts, becoming one of the first companies to put a cost on a global cyber attack in June that disrupted its manufacturing and distribution. ($1 = 0.7632 pounds)    ....

Published at: 2017-07-16 00:00:05

Investors may have overbuilt US housing stocks as data has yet to match up with the homebuilder sector's biggest rally in five years. The S&P 1500 Homebuilding index .SPCOMHOME of homebuilder companies has surged 32 per cent this year and hit a decade-high earlier this week. By contrast, the wider S&P Composite 1500 Index .SPCOMP has gained less than 9 per cent. Housing optimists are pinning their bets on strong US job creation, low interest rates, tight housing supply, robust earnings estimates and a lack of recessionary red flags. Some investors still see opportunities, but others warn the stocks may have run too far. "The sentiment has been quite positive for housing but where they are today, I'm not a buyer of housing stocks. The stocks have run up faster than the data supports and there are better pockets of value in the market," said Erin Browne, global macro portfolio manager at UBS O'Connor in New York. Brown cited weakening growth in building permits and new projects, known as housing starts, since the first quarter as well as land and labour constraints. "While new home sales still look solid, they are still low versus historical levels, given the ongoing shortage of skilled labour and buildable lots which is constraining faster growth," she said. Data shows first quarter single-family housing starts grew 6 per cent year-over-year and 8.5 per cent in May. Overall housing starts have risen 1.27 per cent so far this year. Next week's June data is expected to show an 8.3 per cent increase from May. "Demand overall has been positive for the builders," according to Will Randow, analyst at Citi, although he questioned whether it was positive enough to support such an outsised gain by the group. Randow believes the stocks have risen partly on hopes that policy changes by the administration of US President Donald Trump could help boost home sales. DOUBLE-DIGIT GROWTH Wall Street analysts expect most home builders to report solid double-digit earnings growth, according to Reuters data. DR Horton Inc (DHI.N), whose quarterly profit is seen rising 14 per cent, and PulteGroup (PHM.N), pegged for 15.5 per cent earnings growth, will both report in the last week of July. But Randow says the 2017 median earnings estimate for 12 housing stocks he covers has barely changed in the last three months. "Maybe the stocks have gotten ahead of themselves. It doesn't necessarily mean we're going to see any sort of correction in housing starts." Earlier this week, Barclays downgraded four US homebuilders, citing a buyer traffic pullback in its June survey that was inconsistent with rising valuations. Short interest in seven homebuilders - the four biggest and the three biggest year-to-date gainers - has risen by 20 per cent for 2017, with much of that increase coming in June and July, according to financial analytics firm, S3 Partners. Of the seven, the biggest recent short-selling increase was in LGI Homes (LGIH.O), whose shares are up 46.6 per cent for 2017, followed by NVR Inc (NVR.N), up 51.4 per cent. And recent trading in SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB.P) has leaned toward defensive bets with options positioning implying investors are on guard against a near-term decline. Still, some investors see value. Gary Bradshaw, portfolio manager at Hodges Capital Management in Dallas, likes D R Horton and LGI Homes, and expects a home shortage to boost prices. "Maybe there's another 20 per cent in these stocks over the next 12 months, assuming that interest rates stay relatively low," said Bradshaw. "I still think there's plenty of home buyers and not that many homes."   ....

Published at: 2017-07-16 00:00:05

The demand for mosquito-repelling items has risen in recent times after the outbreak of Chikungunya, dangue fever and other mosquito-borne diseases, according to traders. They said sales of mosquito nets, coils and sprays have increased roughly two to three times, compared with normal days. A recent visit to some of the city markets such as Mogbazar, Hatirpool, New Market, Nilkhet, and Gulistan, this correspondent found that outlets of mosquito nets, grocery shops, departmental stores and cosmetics shops witnessed significant rise in sales of such mosquito-repelling items. "Normally, we could sell four to five mosquito nets but we sell 15 to 20 mosquito nets daily," said Jewel Hossain, owner of a pillow, mattress and mosquito nets outlet at Nilkhet. He said that such rising demands have also induced them to ensure the availability of various kinds of mosquito nets to meet the requirements of the customers. "We have different kinds of mosquito nets and the price of which also varies according to the size and quality," he said. Jewel said in his outlet, price range of the single mosquito nets is Tk 200 to Tk 350, medium size is Tk 250 to Tk 400 and large size is Tk 300 to Tk 600. Masudur Rahman, proprietor of a shop selling mosquito nets, bed sheets and towels shop in the city's Gulistan area, said sales of mosquito nets had also significantly increased in the market. "Now we can sell more than 20 mosquito nets a day, which is three to four times the sales before the outbreak of the Chikungunya and dengue fever," he added. Mohammad Nur Nabi, owner of a grocery shop in the capital's New Market area, told the FE sales of mosquito coils and sprays had more than doubled. He said that there are both local and foreign-branded coils and sprays in his outlet and sales of which have shown uptrend since the outbreak of Chikungunya epidemic at the turn of monsoon. He said there were much demand for mosquito coals of different brands, specially ACI and Mortin and coils of Chinese brands. "Normally, we could sell three to four packets of coils daily, but now sales have increased to 10 to 12 packets in the wake of Chikungunya outbreak in the city," he said. He said that they can now sell six to seven sprays daily, where they could not sell a single spray in a week in the past. "We're witnessing more demands for ACI Aerosols and Mortin Power Gurad sprays than those of the other brands," he said. Nur Nabi said that the price ACI's Aerosol varies according to the size from Tk 220 to Tk 390 while that of Mortin spray is between Tk 250 and Tk 360. Foiz Uddin, owner of a departmental store at Mogbazar area, said they also witnessed a significant upsurge in sales of mosquito coils and sprays. "Now I can sell around 12 to 15 packets of mosquito coils and five to eight mosquito-repelling sprays," he added. Private service holder Md Tushar was seen snapping up two sets of mosquito net from the Nilkhet area. "Two of my family members are suffering from Chikungunya, which compelled him to buy such protective nets to protect others," he told the FE on Thursday. "Mosquito-borne diseases like Chikonguniya, dengue fever and malaria are really dangerous where such mosquito nets can protect us," he said. Abdullah Al Faruk, a private university student, was buying mosquito coils and mosquito sprays from New Market and said that after the outbreak of Chikonguniya he buys such stuff on a regular basis. "I think we should be conscious enough and should adopt various protective measures to protect us from Chikonguniya and other mosquito-borne diseases," he added. So far, according to the statement of the Reference Control Room of the Health Ministry the number of Chikungunya patients confirmed by the country's laboratories is 649. But the unofficial figure could be much higher than the statement. In 2008, 32 Chikungunya patients were identified in Poba Upazila of Rajshahi District. Later in 2011, a few cases of Chikungunya were detected in Dohar Upazila, near Dhaka. But the disease took an epidemic form this year in Dhaka City. Chikungunya is a viral disease transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes. It was first detected during an outbreak in southern Tanzania in 1952. It causes fever and severe joint pain. Other symptoms include muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue and rash. There is no known treatment for the disease, but doctors treat patients based on symptoms. The outbreak of Chikungunya and increased cases of dengue reflect the public fear, which in turn have led to the booming sales of mosquito-repelling item.     wazeddu@yahoo.com....

Published at: 2017-07-15 00:00:06

Bangladesh still needs to do a lot more in the areas of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) by 2030 to achieve the related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as still 56 per cent of the population or 71 million are deprived of safely-managed water, a joint report of WHO and UNICEF has said. The WASH hazards include arsenic and bacteriological contamination, which was not measured under the MDGs, the report said. The report titled 'The Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP), Progress on Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: 2017 Update and Sustainable Development Goal Baselines' has also said although Bangladesh has made considerable gains over the past 17 years in achieving water and sanitation goals, it has to ensure safely-managed water and sanitation.   The report, released jointly by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UNICEF on Friday, is the first global estimates for water, sanitation and hygiene under the SDGs. It presents the first global assessment of 'safely-managed' drinking water and sanitation services. "The overriding conclusion is that too many people still lack access, particularly in rural areas," the report said. The report showed that 97 per cent people in Bangladesh have access to basic water supply, according to the MDG indicator for water. But SDG benchmark indicators are much more stringent than the MDGs, it added. The JMP report also said that Bangladesh is free from open defecation, based on the projected estimate from the MICS 2013. However, the MICS 2018 is expected to show that less than 2.0 per cent people practise open defecation. down from 18 per cent in 2000. "The SDG measure for sanitation poses new challenges as well and the indicator is referred to as 'safely managed sanitation'. It includes the monitoring of the final disposal of human waste," the JMP report noted. This figure is currently unavailable for Bangladesh. In rural areas only 32 per cent people have safely-managed sanitation, setting a big challenge for the country to meet the SDG target of 100 per cent by 2030, the report said. For the first time, the SDGs are monitoring the percentage of people who have facilities to wash their hands at home with soap and water.   Access to water and soap for handwashing varies immensely in 70 countries from 15 per cent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa to 76 per cent in western Asia and northern Africa. It is benchmarked as 40 per cent for Bangladesh, the report said. Development Organisation for the Rural Poor (DORP) research chief Zobair Hasan told the FE that the Bangladesh government has so far laid emphasis more on coverage in case of water and sanitation, not quality and maintenance. For achieving the SDGs, the government has to ensure quality and maintenance. He also said safely-managed water and sanitation are complex issues as these cover proper faecal sludge management, routine operation and maintenance of sanitation facilities. Mr Zobair stressed the need for massive awareness and investment in hygiene sector, specially for production of hygiene-related material and made those easily available and accessible. In 90 countries, progress towards basic sanitation is too slow, meaning they will not reach the universal coverage by 2030.     msshova@gmail.com....

Published at: 2017-07-15 00:00:06