Stocks ended marginally lower for the second straight session on Sunday as cautious investors sold sector specific shares.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settle at 5,383, shedding 11.73 points or 0.21 per cent over the previous session.
Market analysts said most of the investors remained cautious as they awaited the government move to review the proposed taxes on listed companies.
Strong criticism from market stakeholders, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman hinted at the possibility of reviewing the proposal of the budget for fiscal year (FY) 2019-20.
The Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal proposed, among other, imposition of 15 per cent additional tax on retained earnings and reserves, 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.
Two other indices also ended marginally lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 2.32 points to finish at 1,896 and the DSE Shariah Index lost 1.84 points to close at 1,231.
Turnover, another important indicator of the market, also fell to Tk 3.38 billion, which was 24 per cent lower than the previous day’s turnover of Tk 4.45 billion.
A total number of 99,497 trades were executed in the day’s trading session with trading volume of 100.48 million securities.
The market capitalisation of the DSE also fell to Tk 3,969 billion on Sunday, from Tk 3,978 billion in the previous session.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers, as out of 349 issues traded, 221 declined, 88 advanced and 40 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
Central Insurance was the day’s best performer, posting a gain of 10 per cent while Popular Life Insurance was the worst loser, losing 4.65 per cent.
The port city’s bourse, the Chittagong Stock Exchange, also ended marginally lower with its CSE All Share Price Index – CASPI –losing 13 points to settle at 16,509 and the Selective Categories Index - CSCX –shedding 8.0 points to finish at 10,002.
Here too, the losers beat gainers, as 149 issues closed lower, 62 ended higher and 40 remained unchanged on the CSE trading floor.
The port city bourse traded 37.85 million shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 1.13 billion in turnover.
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