Stocks slump first session after budget

Stocks ended lower on Sunday, the first session after unveiling the national budget, as investors reacted negatively to the proposed budget.

Market analysts said the finance minister proposed imposition of 15 per cent tax on companies which declared stock dividend.

The budget also proposed to impose of 15 per cent extra tax on retained earnings or reserves if it exceeds 50 per cent of the paid-up capital of the company.

The investors feared that the good companies will unwilling to come stock market, said an analyst.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal unveiled the national budget for the fiscal year (FY) 2019-20 on Thursday last.

The Finance Minister also proposed some incentives for stock investors including increasing the tax-free dividend income up to Tk 50,000, from existing Tk 25,000.

The Finance Minister also proposed that the double taxation on dividend from listed companies will also be removed.

The market opened on positive note and the key index rose 19 points within 25 minutes of trading. But rest of the session went down steadily.

At the end of the session, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settle at 5,430, losing 43.47 points or 0.79 per cent over the previous session.

Two other indices also ended lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 13.64 points to finish at 1,905 and the DSE Shariah Index shed 8.65 points to close at 1,235.

Turnover, another important indicator of the market, stood at Tk 5.34 billion, which was 6.64 per cent lower than the previous session’s turnover of Tk 5.72 billion.

A total number of 154,664 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 151.32 million securities.

The market capitalisation of the DSE also fell to Tk 4,003 billion on Sunday, from Tk 4,021 billion in the previous session.

The losers took a modest lead over the gainers as out of 349 issues traded, 201 declined, 98 advanced and 50 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.Northern Insurance was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 9.62 cent while Bay Leasing was the worst loser, losing 9.47 per cent.

The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange, also ended lower with its CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI –slumping by 140 points to settle at 16,624 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX –shedding 84 points to finish at 10,073.

Here too, the losers beat gainers, as 170 issues closed lower, 73 higher and 25 remained unchanged on the CSE trading floor.

The port city bourse traded 10.86 million shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 292 million in turnover.

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