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The market opened lower on Tuesday amid choppy trading as investors are suffering from severe confidence crisis.
Market operators said the investors reacted negatively to the proposed budget as the budgetary measures failed to meet investors’ expectations while instability of exchange rates, rising inflation and upsurge made investors cautious.
Following the previous two days' slumped, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 7 points or 0.14 per cent to reach 5098 after the first hour of trading at 11:00am, when the report was filed.
The Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali on Thursday placed a record Tk 7.97 trillion national budget for FY25 at a time when the stock market is passing through a critical time due to lingering macroeconomic challenges.
The finance minister proposed a capital gain tax exceeding Tk 5.0 million for individual investors at least 15 per cent for the first time at a time when the market is passing through a tough time.
The budget also proposed undisclosed money into securities, apartments, lands with a one-off payment of 15 per cent tax without a question asked about the source of income, and narrowed the tax gap between listed and non-listed companies.
The Finance Minister also proposed the corporate tax rate for publicly traded companies remain unchanged while tax rate for not-listed companies reduce 2.5 per cent to 25 per cent with conditions, narrowing the gap between listed and non-listed companies to 5.0 per cent.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, also lost 5 points to reach 1,806 and the Shariah Index (DSES) shed 3 points to stand at 1,100 till then.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, stood at Tk 1.01 billion after the first hour of trading.
Of the issues traded till then, 232 declined, 83 advanced, and 50 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Brac Bank was the most traded stock till the filing of this report with shares worth Tk 53 million changing hands, closely followed by Fortune Shoes, Asiatic Lab and Central Pharma.
The port city bourse – the Chittagong Stock Exchange – (CSE) also opened lower with CSE All Share Price Index- CASPI-losing 30 points to stand at 18,647 , also at 11:00am.