Pragati Life Insurance shares fly sans valid reasons

The price of Pragati Life Insurance shares has jumped by more than 124% since November last year on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) without a valid reason.

In response to two separate queries in November and December by the Dhaka bourse, the insurer said there was no undisclosed price sensitive information behind the recent price hikes.

According to the DSE data, Pragati Life shares were stuck at the floor price of Tk66.50 from September to November last year. But the shares jumped to Tk148.50 in just one month.

Earlier, on 20 October, Mabroor Hossain, a director of the Hosaf Group and a sponsor-director of Pragati Life Insurance Ltd, sold 37% of his holdings in the insurer.

According to the country's premier bourse, he sold 3.72 lakh shares from his total holding of 9.97 lakh shares.

Mabroor Hossain is also the managing director of Hosaf Proficient Energy Limited, a concern of the Hosaf Group.

Other sponsor-directors of Pragati Life Insurance bought these shares on the block market of the bourses.

Sponsor-directors ASM Mohiuddin Monem, Tabith M Awal, Md Shafiur Rahman, and Salim Rahman have declared that they will buy 50,000, 744,000, 50,000, and 197,600 shares of Pragati Life, respectively.

Pragati Life Insurance started its business in 2000 and got listed on the stock market in 2006. The company is sponsored by some renowned business entrepreneurs associated with different industrial groups.