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The market plunged at opening on Monday as investors were not happy with the budgetary measures on the capital market.
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.
The proposed budget has been unable to meet the investors’ expectations and the volatile macroeconomic outlook has compelled the majority of the investors to sell-offs.
On top of that, pre-Eid sale pressure and sale pressure on margin loans adjustment continued to put a negative impact on the market.
Following the previous day’s sharp decline, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 53 points or 1.01 per cent to reach 5118, after the first hour of trading at 11:00 am, 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 million for individual investors at least 15 per cent for the first time aligns with International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommendations to enhance revenue collection.
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 per cent.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, also lost 15 points to reach 1,820 and the Shariah Index (DSES) shed 13 points to stand at 1,107 till then.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, remained low and amounted to Tk 1.15 billion after the first hour of trading.
Of the issues traded till then, 311 declined, 37 advanced, and 26 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Lovello Ice-Cream was the most traded stock till the filing of this report with shares worth Tk 70 million changing hands, closely followed by Orion Pharma, Fortune Shoes, Alif Industries and Central Pharma.
The port city bourse – the Chittagong Stock Exchange – (CSE) also opened sharply lower with CSE All Share Price Index- CASPI-losing 67 points to stand at 14,772, also at 11:00 am.