Stocks posted a marginal fall for the second straight session Sunday as investors are watching tax measures review for listed companies by the NBR.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), settled at 5,383, shedding 11.73 points or 0.21 per cent over the previous session.
Market analysts said most of the investors adopted cautious stance as they awaited the government move to review the proposed tax measures for listed companies.
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 finance minister also proposed imposition of 15 per cent tax on stock dividend to promote cash dividend as part of efforts to increase money flow into the stock market.
In the wake of strong criticism from market stakeholders, the National Board of Revenue (NBR) chairman hinted at the possibility of reviewing the proposals announced in the budget for fiscal year (FY) 2019-20.
The securities regulator also made a set of proposals, including the tax on reserves, which will be submitted to the National Board of Revenue today (Monday).
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 below Tk 4.0 billion after nine sessions to Tk 3.38 billion, which was 24 per cent lower than the previous day's turnover of Tk 4.45 billion.
EBL Securities said investors were mostly cautious ahead of the passing of final Finance Bill in the national parliament.
Investors exerted selling pressures on engineering, food, non-bank financial institutions, power and pharmaceuticals.
Engineering witnessed the highest loss of 0.73 per cent, followed by food &with 0.65 per cent, financial institutions 0.60 per cent, power 0.35 per cent and pharma 0.02 per cent.
Only banking and telecommunication gained 0.18 per cent and 0.17 per cent respectively.
Stock down for the second day as investors' shaky confidence about the tax review issue on excess reserve and also on stock dividend of listed company commented International Leasing Securities.
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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