Students enrich knowledge about stock market

East West University Economics Club (EWUEC) has successfully organised its first ever inter university 'Mock-Stock' competition in Bangladesh named 'StockOx - Let the Battle Begin'. The motto of this competition is to provide a brief idea about the stock market and make the students able to be the stock market participants in near future. The competition was divided into three rounds in three consecutive days along with a workshop from December 04 to December 06, 2017.

All the rounds were held in the East West University premises in Aftabnagar, Dhaka. 40 teams from different renowned universities of Dhaka city enrolled to participate in this biggest battle.

The round one was a case study analysis on an issue related to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and its implication in Bangladesh. 22 teams were selected for the second round based on this case study.

After the selection, EWUEC had organised a workshop on December 04 to give an idea to the participants about the next rounds. The workshop was conducted by Farzana Akter, senior lecturer of Department of Business Administration, where she pointed out the technical details one needs to keep in mind while buying and selling shares. Along with that, Golam Farook, director of Heidelberg Cement Bangladesh Limited and former director of Rupali Investment Limited, was the special guest. He  discussed about the volatility and unpredictable nature of the share market in Bangladesh to help the participants in conducting market analysis later.

The Round 2 of StockOx was 'Cubic Box', held on December 05. It was divided into two parts. The first part was a quiz test to evaluate the knowledge of the participants on financial economics and second part was to construct two portfolios of two companies each within the given time frame. Combining the results of both the rounds, eight teams with maximum scores were qualified for the grand finale.

The grand finale held on December 06, 2017 was round three named 'Stockathon'. This is the most interesting finale. Participants experienced    a real-life stock market scenario with ups and downs. To make this happen, a dummy stock market was created consisting of 30 companies from different industries of Bangladesh. The participants were given a specific hypothetical amount to buy stock on the basis of 20 mock scenarios in front of them. The stock price changed with each scenario and the participants had to decide in a given time whether to buy/hold/sell the stock. Winner was selected on the basis of the highest amount of profit made out of the investments with the equal shares of money.

The champion of the StockOx - Let the Battle Begin is 'Stockaholic' from East West University, awarded with Tk 50,000. The first runner-up is 'The Animal Spirit' from East West University, awarded Tk 30,000, the second runner-up is 'Empresario' from United International University (UIU), awarded  Tk 20,000. Along with the prize money, crests and certificates were provided to the teams.

The event was wrapped up with a gala night for the participants by the renowned theatrical folk band 'Gaan Kobi'.

The prize giving ceremony was conducted by the chief guest Prime Minister's International Affairs Adviser Dr. Gowher Rizvi, special guest Professor M M Shahidul Hassan, vice chancellor of East West University and was chaired by Dr. Mohammed Farashuddin, chairperson, Board of Trustees, East West University.  Along with Professor Tanbir Ahmed Chowdhury, dean of Faculty of Business and Economics, the entire faculty panel of Department of Economics was present to uplift the glory of the competition.

The writer is currently studying Economics at East West University. He can be reached at [email protected]