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The key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), DSEX, fell on Monday after a five-day gaining streak as risk-averse investors extended their selling mode since overall market sentiment remains subdued amidst an uncertain market outlook.
DSEX lost 26.95 points or 0.51 per cent and closed the day at 5,220.19. The blue-chip index, DS30, and the Shariah-based index, DSES, closed at 1,867.99 and 1,142.85 points, respectively, while large-cap sectors posted mixed performance on the day.
Meanwhile, market turnover edged down by 1.4 per cent to Tk 480 crore from the previous session’s Tk 490 crore.
Investors were disappointed because the proposed national budget for FY2024-25 did not include any positive news for the stock market, market insiders said.
The market on Monday opened sharply lower, which continued until the end of the session with no sign of reversal amid persistently lacklustre trade.
NBFI booked the highest gain of 3.63 per cent on the Dhaka bourse. The block trades contributed 28.9 per cent of the overall market turnover. Linde Bangladesh Limited was the most traded share, with a turnover of Tk 23 crore.
Of the 396 issues traded, 89 advanced, 254 declined and 53 remained unchanged at the Dhaka bourse.
The equity indices of the DSE failed to uphold the recovery mode as risk-averse investors extended their selling mode since overall market sentiment remains subdued amidst an uncertain market outlook, said EBL Securities in its daily market review.
Sellers remained predominant right from the start of today’s session since they were wary of the market’s momentum and preferred to sell off their current holdings to observe the direction of the market trend, causing the intraday DSEX to fall below the 5,200 mark again by the mid-session, it said.
However, some late-session buying behaviour on sector-specific scrips provided a slight recovery from the initial plunge.
The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) also settled on red terrain on Monday. The CSE All-Share Price Index, CASPI, lost 95.57 points to settle at 14,726.14 and the Selective Categories Index, CSCX, shed 60.04 points to close at 8,861.90.
Of the issues traded, 146 declined, 51 advanced and 24 issues remained unchanged at the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 22.4 million shares and mutual fund units with a turnover value worth about Tk 21.20 crore.
Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali on June 6 placed the proposed FY25 budget in parliament with apparently no good news for the capital market, at a time when the market is passing a critical time amid lingering macroeconomic challenges.
Even though stakeholders demanded some provisions to woo investors, as well as bringing good firms to the market, most of their calls remained unheard in the budget.
Market insiders believe the budget did not reflect the requirements of the stock exchanges, brokers, merchant bankers, listed companies and investors.
Stock market investors will face a new tax burden in FY25. The government has proposed imposing a 15 per cent capital gains tax on income exceeding Tk 50 lakh.
In his budget speech, the finance minister proposed “to tax any capital gain exceeding Tk 50 lakh received by a natural individual taxpayer from the transfer of shares or units of a listed company or fund.”
The minister recommended the move, which reverses a 2015 policy that exempted individual investors from capital gains taxes, to rationalise tax expenditure in FY25.
The budget has also proposed that profits made by any corporate entity other than individual investors by investing in the stock market will be taxed.
Meanwhile, the government proposed to set the corporate tax rate for listed companies at 22.5 per cent in the upcoming FY25 and FY2025-26, up from the existing 20 per cent, to reduce the tax barrier between listed and non-listed companies to 5 per cent from 7.5 per cent.
Sector people said that the market index has been dropping because investors did not find any positive steps in the budget for them.
