For dividend investors
Dividend dates and yields, net of tax
The announced dividend and the one that lands in your account are two different numbers. The desk shows both, dated.
Real closes from the desk's data layer · 2026-07-23
The problem
Every PSX screener quotes a dividend yield as the announced amount divided by price. Nobody quotes what you actually keep after withholding tax, and nobody makes it easy to see the last day a purchase still carries the entitlement — which is not the same day as the book closure date itself, and buying on the wrong side of it is a common, avoidable mistake.
Book closure and ex-date, per company
The desk’s data layer tracks book closure dates as companies announce them. Since the T+1 move, the ex-date is one settlement day before book closure starts, not two — a rule that changed in the regulation text itself and that most published guides still get wrong.
Yield shown net of withholding tax
Ordinary cash dividends carry 15% withholding tax for a filer under s.150 — higher for a non-filer. The desk’s yield figures are shown net of the filer rate, not the gross announced amount every other source quotes.
The ex-price mechanics, shown not asserted
PSX’s own formula — closing price minus the cash dividend — is exposed on every entry, so a price drop on the ex-date reads as arithmetic you can check, not a mystery move to react to.
Where the numbers come from
Book closure dates come from company announcements as the desk’s data layer records them; the ex-date and withholding-tax mechanics are read directly from the PSX Regulations, NCCPL circulars and the Income Tax Ordinance — not from a secondary summary. Where a figure is unresolved in the primary sources (non-filer dividend withholding is one), the desk says so rather than publishing a guess.
For the full mechanics — why "spot market" isn’t a defined PSX market, how the KSE-100 is actually built, and more on settlement — see the writing. To value a dividend payer beyond its yield, the screener and strategies desk runs four independent valuation methods against it.
FAQ
Common questions
Is the "last day to buy" for a dividend the same as the book closure date?
No. Trading on the day before book closure starts (BC-1) already happens on an ex-entitlement basis under PSX’s rules — so a purchase on BC-1 does not carry the dividend. The last day a purchase still carries the entitlement is the trading session before that, counted in trading days, not calendar days.
Why did the rule change from "minus 2" to "minus 1"?
It tracks the settlement cycle. PSX moved Ready Market settlement from T+2 to T+1 in February 2026, and the book-closure ex-date rule moved with it — the prior rulebook’s section heading said "2 Settlement Day before", the current one says "one settlement day before". Older articles and even some of PSX’s own older brochures still describe the T+2-era rule.
What withholding rate applies to my dividend?
Ordinary cash dividends are withheld at 15% for tax filers under income tax ordinance s.150. Non-filer rates are higher. The desk shows yields net of the filer rate; check your own filer status for the exact amount you’ll receive.
Does this cover bonus and rights entitlements too?
The same ex-date rule (one settlement day before book closure) applies to bonus and rights, not only cash dividends — only the price-adjustment arithmetic differs. Stock splits are a documented exception where PSX has, by separate notice, adjusted the price after book closure instead.
Research, not advice
Every number on the desk is sourced
Prices, filings and dividends come from the data layer, dated and checkable. Where the desk does not know, it says so.