Dhaka's stock market has faced a continuous decline this week, with the DSEX index losing 40 points over three consecutive trading days.

Despite a slight rise during the first hour of trading, the main index, along with the Shariah-based index, ended the day in negative territory on Tuesday.

The DSEX index, which closed at 5,166 points last week, dropped to 5,126 points following three days of losses.

On Tuesday alone, the DSEX fell by 3 points, while the Shariah-based DSES index decreased by 4 points. But the blue-chip DS30 index managed to rise by 2 points.

Mixed Trading Performance

Despite the index decline, most companies saw a rise in their share prices. Of the 402 companies traded, prices increased for 173, declined for 152, and remained unchanged for 77.

Category A: Out of 222 companies, 91 witnessed price increases, 87 saw declines, and 44 remained unchanged.

Category B: Most companies in this category experienced losses. Prices rose for 33 of the 91 companies, fell for 40, and stayed static for 18.

Category Z: This underperforming category showed a relative improvement, with 48 of its 85 companies seeing price hikes, 22 experiencing declines, and 15 remaining stable.

In the mutual funds segment, prices for nine funds rose, nine fell, and 18 remained unchanged out of the 36 traded funds.

Sector-Wise Trends

Sector-wise, the ceramics sector recorded the highest price increase at 3.58%. Other sectors showing gains included food, textiles, telecommunications, paper, insurance, mutual funds, and corporate bonds. Conversely, sectors like leather, technology, and jute experienced the steepest declines. Banks and financial institutions also saw an overall negative trend.

Read: DSEX index gains over week, but banking sector remains weak

Top Gainers and Losers

Among the gainers, Omex Electrode Ltd, a B-category company, saw the highest price increase of 6.87%, with shares trading at Tk 28. On the other hand, ADN Telecom Ltd led the decliners with a 9.78% drop, closing at Tk 97.80 from a peak of Tk 108.10 during the day.

Dividend Announcements

On Tuesday, 10 companies distributed dividends. Notably, the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) declared a 2% dividend, marking its lowest payout in a decade. ICB's dividend rates have been steadily declining, dropping from 35% in 2015 to 2.5% in 2023.

Meanwhile, Square Pharmaceuticals provided the highest dividend of 110%, its largest in a decade. Another Square Group company, Square Textiles, declared a 32% dividend, up from 30% in 2023. Kohinoor Chemicals distributed a 50% dividend, an increase from 40% in 2023. Despite this, Kohinoor's shares declined by 3.7%, closing at Tk 534.60.

Singer Bangladesh declared a 10% dividend for 2024 despite incurring losses. The company reported a per-share loss of Tk 4.91 for 2024, compared to a profit of Tk 5.24 per share in the previous year.

Singer attributed the loss to rising financing costs, which escalated from Tk 60.40 crore in 2023 to Tk 143.30 crore in 2024 due to higher bank interest rates.

Chittagong Stock Market Shows Resilience

Unlike Dhaka, the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) saw its overall index rise by 21 points on Tuesday. Out of 186 companies traded, 86 experienced price increases, 70 saw declines, and 30 remained unchanged.

Read more: DSE sees sharp fall as most stocks suffer price drops

However, trading volume dropped significantly, with Tk 10.28 crore in turnover compared to Tk 21 crore in the previous session.

The ongoing volatility across the capital markets indicates investor caution, with mixed performance across sectors and trading categories.