Dhaka Stocks Reverse Early Gains as Broad Selling Drags Indexes Lower

DHAKA:

Bangladesh’s main stock market swung sharply on Wednesday, with an early rally giving way to broad-based selling in the final hour, pushing all major Dhaka Stock Exchange indexes into negative territory while turnover also declined.

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) opened strongly, with prices rising across most listed shares and units. The benchmark DSEX index gained as much as 40 points during the early part of the session before the market reversed direction.

The shift became increasingly evident around 12:30 p.m., as a growing number of securities moved from the gainers’ list to the decliners’ list. Selling intensified during the final hour, leaving most issues lower by the close.

Most securities end lower

At the end of trading, 119 listed issues on the DSE recorded price gains, while 231 declined and 35 remained unchanged.

The broad decline pushed the benchmark DSEX down 6 points from the previous session to 5,897.

The DSE-30 index, which tracks 30 major companies, fell 4 points to 2,200, while the DSE Shariah Index slipped 1 point to 1,180.

Trading activity also weakened. Turnover on the DSE stood at 10.7373 billion taka ($107.37 million), compared with 11.1542 billion taka in the previous trading session.

That represented a decline of 416.9 million taka from the previous session.

Chittagong market gains

The Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) moved in the opposite direction, with its broad CASPI index gaining 37 points.

Of the 237 securities traded on the CSE, 92 advanced, while 114 declined and 31 closed unchanged.

Turnover on the CSE fell sharply to 179.9 million taka from 712.4 million taka in the previous session.