The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) concluded Wednesday's trading session with a decline, as share prices of 291 companies dropped amid selling pressure from small investors. The benchmark DSE broad index, DSEX, fell by 42.33 points, closing at 5,124.49, down from 5,166.83 points in the previous session on Tuesday. The shariah-compliant DSES index dropped by 12.43 points to 1,142.10, while the DS30 blue-chip index decreased by 14.19 points, ending the day at 1,889.42. DSE benchmark index drops by 10.71 points as 171 companies’ price fell in 1 hours Trading activity slowed considerably, with a total of 12.45 crore shares and units changing hands through 116,982 transactions—down from 16.32 crore shares in 131,043 transactions the previous day. The total trade value stood at Tk 304.2 crore, marking a Tk 80 crore decrease from Tuesday. Market analysts attributed the downward trend to heightened selling pressure as small investors, worried about potential losses, rushed to offload their holdings. Out of 399 issues traded on the DSE, 291 companies recorded declines, 50 advanced, and 58 remained unchanged. The overall sentiment extended to the port city bourse, the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), where the All Share Price Index (CASPI) dropped by 75.36 points, settling at 14,364.44. DSE ends Tuesday’s trading on downtrend, transactions hit Tk 383 crore On the CSE, 195 companies participated in trading. Among them, 40 saw price increases, 119 recorded declines, and 36 remained unchanged. A total of 22.79 lakh shares and units were traded through 1,555 transactions, with a total turnover of Tk 4.79 crore—significantly lower than Tuesday's Tk 6.97 crore. DSE index rises by 25.24 points in early trading; Tk 97.2 crore traded in first hour

The White Paper on Bangladesh's economy has revealed that trillions of takas were embezzled from the stock market through fraud, manipulation and deceit, particularly in placement shares and IPO processes. The committee, led by economist Dr Debapriya Bhattacharya, presented the findings at a press conference in the NEC conference room in the capital on Sunday. Excessive government tutelage held back market development and constrained responsible institutions from carrying out their mandates. This, combined with strong vested interest, resulted in an entrenched status quo of gambling and swindling, said the report. Laws, rules, and regulations were deliberately deficient in their implementation. Weak and substandard companies came into the market through IPOs.205. A major manipulation network involving influential entrepreneurs, issue managers, auditors, and a certain class of investors emerged. In many cases, officials of the regulatory body themselves played a role as accomplices by exploiting legal loopholes or providing concessions. Equity market growth is dragged by poor market infrastructure and unwieldy processing cycle for initial public offerings (IPOs). Current market systems are not supportive of a well-functioning market. White Paper: Mega project costs surged by 70% due to graft during pvs rule IPO valuations give the sponsors an upper hand over the general investors in the secondary market. Settlement delays raise the investors’ interest rate and price fluctuation risks. Liquidity is affected by the lengthy IPO cycle. Absence of central counterparty clearing, interoperable information technology infrastructure and adequate trading platforms constrain brokers and clearing houses from transparent market making and trading. Stunted investor confidence: Public perception of the stock market is impaired by the memories of manipulators facing no legal action based on the reports produced by the investigating committees. The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) a study 206of 71 businessmen in 2023 found 50 per cent of businessmen believe the prevalence of suspicious trading in the secondary market, 53.1 percent thought BSEC’s regulatory enforcement is weak, 50 per cent found financial reporting anomalous, and 56.3 percent believed poor companies enter the capital market through initial public offerings (IPOs). The same issues topped the list in 2022. Market rigging is endemic. Several powerful investors and institutions artificially inflate the share prices through a series of trades, mostly among themselves, violating securities laws.203 They execute circular trades in targeted company shares, where some investors sell shares and others, related to them, buy shares in a series of trades to create the appearance of active trading. Corruption ravages Bangladesh’s key sectors, reveals White Paper The book-building process is manipulated to the extent that it no longer effectively determines the true valuation of a company's shares. Anomalies in IPO valuations (mostly underpricing) give the sponsors an upper hand over the general investors in the secondary market. Some big-ticket mutual funds were taken over by vested interests. Specifically, allegations of embezzlement of unit holders' funds were made against the top two institutions in the closed- end mutual fund sector. BSEC looked the other way. The Khairul Commission extended the duration of all closed-end mutual funds by an additional ten years. Investor confidence plummeted. The increase in the index prompted regulations to raise margin loan ratios, fueling the stock market surge. The BSEC often maintained the index, disregarding rising stock prices, with regulatory action only taking place when prices began to fall. The controversial floor price system damaged the market’s international reputation, halting trading in strong companies while encouraging market manipulation due to low fines relative to potential profits. After the Awami League government assumed power in 2009, the stock market surged within a year and a half before crashing suddenly in January 2011. The main Dhaka index fell by about half from its December 2010 all-time high. The loss as of October 2012 was equivalent to 22% of GDP. It wiped out $27 billion in market capitalisation triggering a wave of social discontent.202 Some investors even committed suicide. $16bn siphoned off annually during Hasina's regime: White Paper The ensuing liquidity crunch heightened solvency risks. Back in 1996, as in 2010, the index’s rise and decline resulted from collusive behaviour between institutional investors, high-net worth investors and brokerage firms, which together, drove the majority of the volume of shares traded. Retail investors suffered. The government formed an investigation committee. Their probe flagged limited enforcement of regulation by the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) and commercial banks’ excessive investment in stock markets. The committee, led by a veteran banker Ibrahim Khaled, highlighted issues such as placement trading, irregularities in the IPO process, suspicious transactions under omnibus accounts, and the roles of influential businessmen, brokers, and market players. The report named companies whose share prices surged abnormally (300 to 900 per cent) in 2009 and 2010.

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), the country's main capital market, saw an upward trend in the first 2 hours on Sunday. Trading record in the DSE shows, shares and units of 8.82 crore were exchanged through 64077 transactions. In this time, shares and mutual funds worth Tk 183.4 crore were traded. Dhaka Stock Exchange sees positive momentum in early Thursday trading A total of 381 companies participated in trading. Among these, prices of 194 companies increased, 97 companies decreased and 90 companies remained unchanged at the DSE. The main index DSEX increased by 10.77 points to 5203.36 points, the DSES Shariah index was up by 4.04 points to 1170.94 points, and the DS30 special blue chip rose by 2.31 points to 1918.54 points during the first 2hours on Sunday.

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), the nation’s premier capital market, experienced an upward trend during the first hour of trading on Tuesday, with transactions totaling Tk 192 crore by 11 am. According to DSE data, 5.51 crore shares and mutual fund units were exchanged through 56,675 transactions during this period. The market recorded participation from 393 companies, of which 223 saw a rise in share prices, 83 faced declines, and 76 remained unchanged. Read: DSE index rises by 67.57 points amid upward stock price trend The main index, DSEX, gained 20.98 points, reaching 5,354.41 points, reflecting investor optimism. The DSES Shariah Index, which tracks Shariah-compliant stocks, rose by 2.43 points to 1,197.73 points, while the DS30 Index, comprising blue-chip stocks, climbed 8.29 points to 1,985.74.

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), Bangladesh’s primary capital market, experienced an upward trend in the first hour of trading on Tuesday, following four consecutive days of losses. Data from the DSE shows that 3.95 crore shares and units were exchanged across 36,864 transactions, amounting to a turnover of Tk 86.65 crore within the first hour. Of the 377 companies that participated in trading, 261 saw price increases, 85 experienced declines, and 31 remained unchanged. DSE suffers sharp decline, investors demand action as millions lost Key indexes reflected this positive shift: the main DSEX index rose by 45.25 points, reaching 4,943.79, while the DSES Shariah index gained 7.62 points to 1,095.08. The DS30, a special blue-chip index, also increased by 23.9 points to 1,829.79 in the initial hour of trading.

Stocks in Dhaka saw a sharp decline last week, with the DSEX falling below 5,300 for the first time in three months as anxious investors sold off to prevent further portfolio losses. The market remained dominated by sellers throughout the week, extending its losing streak for the fourth consecutive week. The market started the week in free fall, hitting session lows across all four days as retail investors, in particular, engaged in panic selling. The main index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), DSEX, finally settled at 5,258, down over 164 points or 3.03 percent from the previous week. The DSEX has lost 476 points in the last four weeks. Read more: Small investors’ woes in stock market not over yet Investors concerned continued to shed their holdings after noting that heavy-weight issues, including mutational companies, continued to fall in the past few weeks, putting further pressure on indices. Investors preferred to trim their equity exposures and adopted a wait-and-see approach amid uncertainties surrounding earnings declarations for June-ending companies. Macroeconomic and regulatory uncertainties also acted as negative catalysts that ignited the selling spree, allowing the bears to retain control for a prolonged period. DSEX, the broad index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, lost 164.1 points, or 3.0 percent, to settle at 5,258 points. Investors' participation in the market continued to fall by 13.3 percent to TK 3,180 million as compared to TK 3,667 million in the previous week.  Read more: BSEC Chairman urges stakeholder cooperation for stock market reforms Investors were primarily active in the banking sector (20.4%), followed by the pharmaceutical sector (16.5%) and the IT sector (11.3%). Sectors closed in the red, with the services sector (-8.8%) experiencing the largest decline. Five large-cap stocks such Islami Bank, Brac Bank, British American Tobacco, Renata and Beacon Pharma together accounted for one-fourth of the index's decline during the week, according to EBL Securities. This week, Tk 52 billion was wiped out from the market capitalization of the DSE, which now stands at Tk 6,691 billion. Over the past four consecutive weeks, the market capitalisation has declined by a total of Tk 242 billion. The market capitalisation is calculated by multiplying a company’s total number of outstanding shares by its current market price. Read more: Share Market Investment Guide: How to Invest in Stocks in Bangladesh The blue-chip DS30 index, a group of 30 prominent companies, also lost 54 points to close at 1,930 while the DSES index, which represents Shariah-based companies, shed 32 points to 1,174.

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) continued their downward trend on Thursday, marking the fourth consecutive day of falling indices this week. Despite an uptick in trading volume at the DSE, most companies saw declines in share prices, with market indices across both exchanges experiencing significant drops. At the DSE, trading volume increased to Tk 306.89 crore, up from Tk 296.34 crore on the previous day, reflecting a rise of Tk 10.55 crore. However, this boost in trading activity did little to offset the overall decline in stock values. DSE faces downturn for second consecutive day as most company shares decline The DSE's benchmark index, DSEX, dropped by 58.23 points, closing at 5257.97 points. Other indices followed suit, with the DSES (Shariah) index down by 8.74 points to 1174.13 points, and the DS-30 index, which tracks the top 30 leading companies, falling by 17.58 points to 1930.39 points. Out of the 395 companies and mutual funds traded on the DSE, only 53 companies posted gains, while a substantial 293 companies saw their share prices fall, and 49 remained unchanged. Meanwhile, trading activity at the CSE dipped on Thursday. The total value of shares traded fell by Tk 3.31 crore to Tk 4.64 crore, down from Tk 7.95 crore on the previous day. Similar to the DSE, all major indices at the CSE also experienced declines. The CASPI index, the main index of the CSE, decreased by 150.83 points, closing at 14821.49 points, while the CSCX index dropped by 87.63 points to 9012.55 points. Other indices, including the CSE-50, CSI, and CSE-30, also showed declines of 8.22 points, 8.14 points, and 103.52 points, respectively. On Thursday, shares of 218 companies and mutual funds were traded at the CSE. Of these, the share prices of 41 companies rose, while 156 companies posted losses, and 21 companies remained unchanged.

Small investors in Bangladesh’s stock market remain trapped, with their woes persisting due to a lack of confidence, weak governance and economic instability, despite assurances from regulators of an eventual market rebound, according to experts. “No one, not even the regulator or stock market authorities, pays heed to our screams,” said Saiful Islam, a grocery owner and one of the affected investors,” in a broken voice while talking to UNB regarding the capital market. Saiful invested Tk 14 lakh in 2010 to buy shares of different companies listed in the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE). Dhaka stocks drop in early trading today After graduating in 2004, Saiful found no suitable job and then started a small business in the Motijheel area in 2007 with support from his father-in-law. He made a good profit in the business and invested the money in the share market. In 2010, Saiful invested around Tk 14 lakh, of which Tk 6 lakh was his own and Tk 8 lakh he borrowed from relatives. All of his investment was stuck in shares of different companies due to a major scam in the capital market in 2011. Like Saiful, thousands of investors lost their hard-earned capital in 2011, and after that, some were able to regain part of their capital. However, most of them left the capital market, losing nearly all their investment. Many such investors are still in the market, hoping for a rebound in the DSE, but without any good news. DSEX drops by 43 points as prices of 288 companies fall, Chittagong Stock Exchange follows suit There is no sign of lifting the floor price before the next election. However, economists say that people do not have confidence in the market. The BSEC advises investors to remain patient. Analysts say that the small investors’ woes in the capital market are unlikely to end before the national election as their wait for a good time is prolonged by Bangladesh’s recent ‘instability’. The small investors’ shares were once stuck at the floor price (minimum sale rate) due to the overall economic downturn. The floor price barrier ended after the change in government in Bangladesh. However, the prices of most companies' shares have not increased to the desired level for small investors. Dhaka Stock Exchange sees early week gains This has been painful for many unfortunate small investors in the capital markets, according to market analysts. Policymakers and the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) paint a rosy picture for small investors, saying that the stock markets will rebound with the enlistment of new companies and the injection of large investments. However, the situation for small investors seems hopeless. A large number of shareholders have been stuck with their investments in the capital market for over a decade amid fading hopes. Experts' Analysis Dr ABM Mirza Azizul Islam, an economist and former adviser of a caretaker government, told UNB that there has been a crisis of confidence among investors in the stock market for a long time. “To this are added various economic crises, the international situation, and everything, including elections and national politics. As a result, first of all, steps should be taken to eliminate the trust crisis. In this case, trust should be ensured by establishing good governance,” he added. Dhaka Stock Exchange slips below 5,400-point as Islami Bank shares plummet nearly 10% “That means investors have to be assured that if someone steals their money through manipulation, they will be prosecuted. Besides, the supply of good shares should be increased. Through these two steps, it is possible to solve the market problem. But it is not easy at all,” said Dr Azizul Islam. Dr Abu Ahmed, Chairman of the Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) and former professor of Dhaka University’s Economics Department, said there are two crises in the market: one on the demand side and the other in investor confidence. On the supply side, he said, the problem is that there are fewer good companies. As a result, it is a win-win situation for manipulation and syndicates. “All in all, the stock market is currently in an unstable condition and the situation is gradually getting worse. The passage from here is very difficult,” he said. Ahmed also noted that people are sometimes investing in weak shares with the expectation of a big profit, which is not the right way of investing due to a lack of financial literacy. Read mnore: Share Market Investment Guide: How to Invest in Stocks in Bangladesh

Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) has fined 9 investors Tk 428.52 crore for manipulating the shares of Bangladesh Export Import Company Limited (Beximco) listed in the stock market. The BSEC decided to impose this fine in the commission meeting held on Tuesday chaired by BSEC Chairman Khondoker Rashed Maqsood. Such a large amount of money has never been fined in the history of the country's stock market for manipulating the shares of a company, stock market stakeholders said. BSEC instructs DSE to investigate unusual price surge of Islami Bank shares Among them, Marzana Rahman was fined Tk30 crore, Trade Next International Tk4.1 crore, Mushfiqur Rahman Tk125 crore, Mumtazur Rahman Tk58 crore, Jupiter Business Tk22.50 crore, Apollo Trading Tk15.1 crore, ART International Tk70 crore, Abdur Rauf Tk31 crore and Crescent Limited was fined Tk 73 crore. Meanwhile, the commission meeting decided to inspect the use of IPO/RPO’s funds of 9 companies. The nine companies include- Bangladesh Shipping Corporation, Best holding, Index Agro, JMI Hospital Requisite Manufacturing, Lub-rref (Bangladesh) Limited, Navana Pharmaceuticals, Ring Shine Textiles, Sikder Insurance and Silva Pharmaceuticals.

Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), the main stock market of Bangladesh on Sunday launched a new data center to ensure automated and uninterrupted transactions. The DSE authorities have claimed it is a state-of-the-art data center with 106 racks, a press release said. Stock exchanges should allow more access for vetting IPOs, said DSE Managing Director The data center has already achieved ANSI/TIA-942, Rated-3 (Design and Construction) international standard certification, DSE said. Rated-3 data centers have multiple paths to keep power, cooling, and other systems updated and running without taking them offline. As a result, equipment/devices can be removed/replaced/maintained on a planned basis without disrupting application operations, said the DSE. DSE gets new managing director On November 12, the DSE announced that trading activities have been launched from the new data center at DSE Tower in Nikunja. It further stated that trading activities are being conducted successfully through the new data center since its commissioning. According to DSE, the new data center has been equipped with state-of-the-art servers, network components, storage, and electrical equipment. By launching this state-of-the-art data center, DSE has ensured a highly reliable and modern trading platform for the benefit of investors and all stakeholders. DSE, BGMEA join forces to support RMG enterprises in capital market DSE Chairman Professor Dr. Hafiz Muhammad Hasan Babu, Director Rubaba Daula, Managing Director Dr. ATM Tariquzzaman, Chief Operating Officer M. Saifur Rahman Majumder, Acting Chief Technology Officer Tariqul Islam, among others, were present in the opening transaction ceremony.