A dramatic midday reversal on the premier bourses of Bangladesh wiped out early morning gains, pushing the major indices deep into negative territory on Sunday, 19 July. The first trading session of the week witnessed a broad-based sell-off across both the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), with losers heavily outnumbering gainers by the closing bell. Alongside the correction in value indices, overall market turnover contracted significantly, reflecting a cautious stance among institutional and retail investors.
The day had initially kicked off on a highly optimistic note at the Dhaka bourse, as buyers actively dominated the opening bells. A flurry of early bids triggered a sustained upward trajectory, keeping the benchmark index firmly in the green for the first two hours of trading.
However, the momentum completely broke down at midday. By 12:00 pm, market dynamics underwent a severe shift as persistent profit-taking forced a succession of large-cap and mid-tier equities out of the advancing column. The selling pressure escalated into a near-wholesale dump during the final hour of the session, locking in a substantial decline for the day.
Categorised Performance Dissected
At the close of trading on the DSE, only 98 issues managed to secure capital gains. Conversely, the prices of 245 enterprises retreated, whilst 49 counters concluded the session unchanged. A closer inspection of the listed equities based on their corporate dividend histories reveals uneven vulnerability across different market segments.
For high-performing tier-one enterprises—defined as companies yielding an annual dividend payout of 10 per cent or higher—only 42 stocks advanced. In stark contrast, 138 blue-chip counters depreciated, whilst 16 closed flat. Medium-tier operations, which distributed under 10 per cent in dividends, saw a mere 13 gainers against 55 decliners, with 6 holding stationary.
Interestingly, non-compliant “Z-category” junk shares, which failed to disburse any dividends to investors, demonstrated pockets of speculative resilience; 42 of these high-risk counters moved upward, while 52 lost ground and 27 remained unchanged. Meanwhile, listed mutual funds enjoyed a relatively stable outing, with 20 advancing, 7 declining, and 7 remaining static.
Indices Plunge and Turnover Shrinks
The heavy concentration of falling prices caused the DSE Broad Index (DSEX) to shed 44 points, or nearly three-quarters of a per cent, settling at 5,855 points. The blue-chip segment suffered a similar fate, with the DSE-30 index—which tracks thirty select large-cap conglomerates—dropping 16 points to finish at 2,210 points. Reflecting the broader weakness, the Shariah-compliant DESES index gave up 9 points, closing the day at 1,197 points.
The downturn was compounded by a notable reduction in liquidity flow. Daily turnover on the DSE fell to 10.70 billion Taka ($1,070.39 crore), representing a contraction of 478.5 million Taka compared to the previous session’s total of 11.18 billion Taka.
Malek Spinning Mills took the top spot in terms of liquidity involvement, registering individual trading volumes worth 268.8 million Taka. Techno Drugs followed closely in second place with transactions totaling 247.2 million Taka, whilst Sharp Industries secured the third position by generating a turnover of 236.7 million Taka. Other highly traded firms anchoring the top ten liquidity list included BSRM Steel, LankaBangla Finance, Meghna Insurance, Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, ACI Formulations, Summit Alliance Port, and FarEast Knitting.
The bearish sentiment was mirrored at the Chittagong Stock Exchange, where the CASPI All Share Price Index lost 66 points. Out of the 239 traded entities on the port city bourse, only 76 advanced, 137 declined, and 26 held their previous value. Total turnover at the CSE collapsed to 88.2 million Taka, down sharply from the 183.8 million Taka recorded during the prior session.
