BBN file photo
Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- Bangladesh’s stocks slumped on Sunday, the first session after unveiling the national budget, as some proposals of the budget made investors upsets.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled at 5,430, losing 43.47 points or 0.79 per cent over the previous session.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal unveiled the national budget for the fiscal year (FY) 2019-20 on Thursday.
The finance minister proposed, among other measures, imposition of 15 per cent additional tax on retained earnings or reserves, only if the amount exceeds 50 per cent of the paid-up capital of the company.
The budget 2019-20 also proposed imposing 15 per cent tax on stock dividend to promote cash dividend as part of efforts to increase money flow into the stock market.
The government announced the measure to ensure proper distribution of profits among the investors.
The good companies might face difficulties with the proposed 15 per cent tax on stock dividend, market operators said.
The Dhaka Stock Exchange authorities also expressed divided opinion on imposition of 15 per cent additional tax on retained earnings or reserves at a post-budget press briefing on Sunday.
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.
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 BDT 5.34 billion, which was 6.64 per cent lower than the previous session's turnover of BDT 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 BDT 4,003 billion on Sunday, from BDT 4,021 billion in the previous session.
The large cap sectors showed negative performance except power and food which gained 0.31 per cent and 0.16 per cent respectively.
On the other hand, Chittagong Stock Exchange 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.
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 BDT 292 million in turnover.
BBN/SSR/AD