The stock market opened marginally lower on Monday, the second day after unveiling the national budget as the proposed budget appears to have failed to boost stock investors’ confidence.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), went down by 27.22 points or 0.42 per cent to reach 6,453 within the first 30 minutes of trading at 10:30 am.
Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal placed a record Tk 6.78 trillion national budget for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022-2023 before Parliament on Thursday.
The Finance Minister has proposed no new incentives, other than the reduction in corporate tax for the listed companies under some conditions.
The tax gap between listed and non-listed firms remained, however, unchanged at 7.50 per cent, which analysts think would discourage non-listed firms from going public.
The stock market intermediaries have long been demanding for widening the tax gap by at least 10 per cent between listed and non-listed firms to attract well-performing firms into the market, said a leading broker.
He said that they made a set of demands including the continuation of the scope of laundering undisclosed money through the capital market but the proposed budget discounted it.
The investors are analysing the potential impacts on the capital market with caution before making any more investments, he added.
The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, also lost 3.66 points to reach 2,330 and the Shariah Index (DSES) shed 0.88 points to stand at 1,402.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, stood at Tk 1.10 billion after 30 minutes of trading.
Of the issues traded till then, 164 declined, 124, and 50 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Shinepukur Ceramics was the most traded stock till the filing of this report with shares worth Tk 212 million changing hands, closely followed by Beximco, BSC, BD ComOnline and Delta Life Insurance.
The port city bourse – the Chittagong Stock Exchange – (CSE) also opened lower with CSE All Share Price Index- CASPI-losing 19 points to stand at 18,871, also at 10:30 am.
Of the issues traded till then 58 declined, 26 advanced and 14 remained unchanged with Tk 16 million in turnover.