Stocks fall in early trading amid investor pessimism

Stocks witnessed downward trend in early trading on Monday as some proposals of the budget made investors upsets.

The finance minister proposed, among other measures, imposition of 15 per cent additional tax on retained earnings or reserves, if the amount exceeds 50 per cent of the paid-up capital of the company.

Market analysts said the good companies might face difficulties with the proposed of 15 per cent tax on retained earnings.

This is quite challenging as retained earnings is simply undistributed net profit after tax, which is already taxed, said an analyst.

Following the previous day’s sharp decline, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) opened on negative note.

Within first 15 minutes of trading, the key index of the country’s prime bourse fell 5.0 points while the CSE All Share Price Index (CASPI) of port city’s bourse lost 10 points at 10:45am.

After 30 minutes of trading, the DSEX lost more than 29 points while the CSE All Share Price Index (CASPI) of port city’s bourse fell 17 points at 11:00am when the report was filed.

DSEX, the prime index of the DSE, went down by 29.83 points or 0.54 per cent to stand 5,401 points at 11:00am.

The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, lost 7.25 points to reach at 1,897 points till then. The DSE Shariah Index also shed 5.60 points to stand at 1,229 points.

Turnover, the important indicator of the market, stood at Tk 1.18 billion on DSE when the report was filed at 11:00am.

Monno Ceramic was the most traded stocks till then with shares worth Tk 100 million changing hands, closely followed by United Power, Legacy Footwear, Northern Insurance and National Tubes.

Of the issues traded till then, 87 advanced, 183 declined and 37 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.

The port city’s bourse – the Chittagong Stock Exchange – (CSE) also saw downward trend till then with CSE All Share Price Index- CASPI-shedding 17 points to stand at 16,607 points, also at 11:00am.

The Selective Category Index – CSCX –also fell 9.0 points to stand at 10,064 points till then.

Of the issues traded till then, 32 advanced, 79 declined 18 issues remained unchanged with Tk 34 million in turnover.