Paramount Textile stocks fall after DSE publishes wrongful information

The shares of Paramount Textile Limited fell after the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) reportedly published wrong information about the textile company's investment plans.

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) on Monday announced on its website that the listed textile-maker has decided to invest $85.45 million for enhancing its production capacity and operations in a new project.

However, according to Paramount Textile, the company's board has not made any such decision and no such information was provided to DSE.

Paramount Textile's share price fell 4.90% on Monday due to the spread of such misleading information.

The company's share price fell Tk3.9 to close at Tk75.70.

On condition of anonymity, a top official of a brokerage firm said the company's investment information was published on the DSE's website at the start of Monday's transaction.

Initially, it attracted investors, but when some doubtful investors enquired about the matter, they found the information to be incorrect, he said.

Confused, many investors sold their shares. However, DSE did not remove this announcement from its website, the official added.

Asked, Shaifur Rahman Mazumdar, chief operating officer at DSE, told The Business Standard (TBS), "I am not aware of any such incident. The matter will be verified on Tuesday."

DSE's Acting Chief Regulatory Officer, Shafiqul Islam Bhuiyan, said, "The Market Operations Department of DSE is responsible for publishing company information on the website. Publishing false information is against securities law, so the matter will be investigated."

DSE Senior Manager Rony Islam is currently in charge of publishing information on its website. However, it was not possible to contact him.

Rony Islam has been accused of taking bribes for recruiting authorized dealers in various securities houses, and in April the stock market regulator directed the prime bourse of the country to investigate Rony Islam.

On 30 November last year, Paramount Textile released information about the investment of $ 85.45 million for capacity expansion and a new project.

On 11 May this year, the company announced that it has started capacity expansion and the new project's commercial operations.

Paramount Textile's Company Secretary, Robiul Islam, told TBS, "DSE has released old information, but we don't know why. We did not send them any new information."

Rezaul Karim, spokesperson and executive director of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC), said, "Any previously disclosed information could not be republished by DSE without the request or application of the company, so the matter will be looked into."