Staff Correspondent

Bangladesh’s capital market ended the week on a bearish note as it witnessed a decline for the third consecutive day on Thursday.

All key indices in both the Dhaka and Chittagong Stock Exchanges fell on the final trading day of the week, while the majority of listed companies experienced a drop in share prices.

At the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), the benchmark index DSEX lost 54 points. The Shariah-based index, DSES, declined by 14 points, and the blue-chip index DS30 dropped by 20 points.

Among the 395 companies traded, most saw their share prices decline. While 42 companies recorded gains, 317 saw their share prices fall and 36 companies remained unchanged.

Shares in all three categories — A, B, and Z — declined. Of the 216 dividend-yielding companies listed in category A, only 19 recorded price increases. In contrast, 182 companies in this category experienced a decrease, and 15 companies remained stable.

Most of the 36 mutual funds traded also witnessed a decline in share prices, with 31 funds seeing their prices fall, 2 showing gains and 3 remaining unchanged.

In the DSE block market, shares worth Tk 29 crore were traded across 31 companies, with Square Pharma topping the list by offloading shares worth Tk 21 crore.

The total turnover at the Dhaka market was Tk 296 crore for the day, slightly higher than the Tk 294 crore recorded on the previous trading day.

City Insurance was the top gainer with a 7.38 per cent increase in its share price. Conversely, Premier Leasing and Finance tumbled more than 9.38 per cent to close at the bottom.

Decline at Chittagong Stock Exchange

Similar downward pressure was observed at the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), where the overall index fell by 137 points during the day.

Among the 205 companies traded on the CSE, 37 saw their share prices rise, 151 declined, and 17 remained unchanged.

The total turnover on the CSE was Tk 10.29 crore, down from BDT 11.22 crore recorded in the previous session.

Samata Leather Complex led the gainers with a 10 per cent increase in share price, while Jamuna Bank suffered a steep fall of over 14 per cent to close at the bottom.