Stocks returned to a falling streak last week as investors remined cautious following the budget. Market analysts said many of the investors willing to remain on the sidelines, awaited a bouncing market as tax review measures failed to boost investors' confidence. The government took some measures for the fiscal 2019-20 budget with a number of supportive steps amid major revisions in some proposals, but it failed to make any positive impact on the market. They said, the changes in the budget saw mixed reactions from investors, especially for imposing tax on stock dividend and retained earnings. They think that tax might force some companies to declare cash dividend, but that tax might be a burden for some sectors. On the other hand, gas price hike has had a negative impact on the manufacturing companies' shares, as this will reduce their profits, they added. The prime index of Dhaka Stock Exchange went down by 49.26 points or 0.91 percent during the week to settle at 5,380.79 on Thursday. Meanwhile, the blue chips index (DS30) slumped by 14.83 points during the week to close at 1,910.08 on Thursday and Shariah index (DSES) dropped 12.43 points to finish at 1,233.39 in the span of one week. The losers beat the gainers as out of 354 issues traded, 166 closed lower, 165 higher and 23 remained unchanged on the DSE floor. The market capitalisation of the DSE has dropped by 0.72 percent to Tk 3,975.64 billion as against Tk 4,004.57 billion on the first working day of the week. Runner Automobiles dominated the DSE floor and topped the week's turnover chart. Market data showed, 5,224,514 shares of the United Power were traded on the floor of the Dhaka Stock Exchange during the week and its market value stood at almost Tk 548.52 million in the week. It was followed by United Power with Tk 523.07 million, National Polymer Industries Tk 450.96 million, Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company Tk 439.70 million and National Life Insurance Tk 427 million. Prime Finance First Mutual Fund was the week's best performer, posting a gain of 42.62 percent while Peoples Leasing and Finance Services was the week's worst loser, slumping by 13.04 percent. The daily average turnover stood at Tk 4.86 billion, which was 14.9 percent higher than the previous week's average of Tk 4.23 billion. On the other hand, the port city bourse, the Chattogram Stock Exchange (CSE) also saw negative trend during the last week with its selective category index (CSCX) losing 1 percent to close at 9984.78 points. All-Share Price Index (CASPI) of the CSE was lower by almost 1.04 percent on Thursday to close at 16469.37 points. At the CSE, a total of 302 issues were traded. Among them, 138 closed higher, 140 ended lower and 24 remained unchanged. The number of shares transacted on the floor of the CSE was 64.32 million and the total turnover in value was Tk 2.43 billion during the last week.
