Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – Highlights of Friday’s newspapers:

The Financial Express:

— Finance Minister AMA Muhith said Thursday that the government might opt for floating sovereign bonds to help ease pressure on the country’s foreign exchange (forex) reserve.

— The single-day trading turnover, in value terms, at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) plunged to its nearly three-year-low of Tk 1.81 billion Thursday, as the liquidity shortage — largely reflecting buyers reluctance to put in fresh money in the stock market — reached a critically low level.

— The inter-bank call money rate hit 23 per cent Thursday following substantial withdrawal of cash from the banks ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha festival, officials said.

The Daily Star:

— Salauddin Ahmed Bachchu, the younger brother of Posts and Telecommunications Minister Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju, and 13 others were implicated last night in the murder of Narsingdi mayor Lokman Hossain, after a long drama over filing a case.

— Shamim Osman, the Awami League-backed mayoral candidate defeated at the Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC) polls last week, yesterday warned that anyone intimidating his loyalists would face dire consequences.

— The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) yesterday said the fuel oil price should be adjusted upward by at least Tk 10 a litre to reduce the mounting pressure on the state coffers.

The New Age:

— People streaming out of Dhaka to celebrate Eid-ul-Azha with their families in the outlying areas swarmed the railway stations and bus and launch terminals on Thursday enduring a lot of sufferings.

— A major US lobbying company may have broken US criminal law by failing to register itself as a foreign agent of a political party when it acted as a lobbyist for Mir Quasem Ali, a leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami in Bangladesh.

— Turnover of Dhaka Stock Exchange dipped to three-year low to Tk 181.93 crore on Thursday amid high volatility as many of the investors refrained from trading ahead of a nine-day Eid vacation. Thursday’s turnover was the lowest since 18 December, 2008 when the turnover was Tk 182.26 crore with the index standing at 2,518.02 points.

BBN/SSR/AD-04Nov11-10:23 am (BST)