Written by The Banking Post
The country’s stock market remained stuck in a cycle of decline, with the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) posting its lowest turnover in 13 trading sessions on Thursday.
Market pressure continued from previous sessions as most shares and units on the DSE lost value, dragging all key indices further down.
The trend was similar on the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), where a larger number of issues also slipped, pulling every index lower—even though turnover edged up slightly.
Earlier in the week, the DSE suffered steep declines in the first two sessions before showing a brief rebound on the third. But the downtrend resumed on Wednesday. On Thursday, trading opened on a positive note, with many shares gaining and the benchmark index moving up.
The momentum quickly faded. Within the first half-hour, the market reversed as gainers gave way to a long list of losers. Selling pressure intensified as the session progressed, ending the day with most share prices down and all indices in the red.
Out of 385 traded issues on the DSE, only 34 advanced, while 307 declined and 44 remained unchanged.
Among fundamentally strong companies—those that typically pay 10% or higher dividends—18 advanced, 168 declined and 28 remained unchanged.
In the group of medium-performing companies, only 6 gained, compared with 67 decliners and 3 unchanged issues.
The DSEX, the benchmark index of the DSE, fell by 40 points to close at 4,927. The DS30 index, comprising blue-chip stocks, slipped 6 points to 1,891, while the DSES, the Shariah index, dropped 9 points to 1,024.
Turnover also fell sharply. Total trading amounted to Tk 364.37 crore, down from Tk 405.41 crore in the previous session—a drop of Tk 41.04 crore. This marks the lowest turnover since November 17.
Simtex Industries topped the turnover chart with Tk 27.63 crore in trades. BD Thai Food ranked second with Tk 17.94 crore, followed by Shahjibazar Power at Tk 12.69 crore.
