Bangladesh Stock Markets Face Continued Decline and Falling Indices
Bangladesh share markets experienced a persistent downward trend on August 30, 2026, with major indices dropping across both the Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges. Market participants attributed the slump to a lack of investor confidence, heavy selling pressure, and a liquidity crisis.
On August 30, 2026, the country's share markets continued to witness a sustained downturn alongside a struggling trading environment in Dhaka and Bangladesh. According to market insiders, the persistent fall in prices is primarily driven by a lack of confidence among investors, intense selling pressure, and an ongoing liquidity crisis within the market.
Trading statistics from the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) highlight the volatile trading scenario leading up to this date. On August 25, total transactions at the DSE stood at 5.0671 billion taka, before dropping to 4.6701 billion taka by the final trading session of the previous week. However, by Sunday, total transactions at the DSE experienced a slight rise of 51.02 million taka compared to the previous trading day, reaching a total of 5.1803 billion taka.
Despite the marginal increase in total turnover, the overwhelming majority of shares and mutual funds suffered price losses on Sunday. Across all sectors at the DSE, only 49 entities managed to make the gainers' list. In stark contrast, the prices of 309 entities declined, while 34 remained unchanged. A breakdown by category shows that among good-performing companies, only 26 saw price increases, whereas 163 declined and 11 remained unchanged. For medium-category companies, 12 saw price increases, 58 decreased, and 4 remained unchanged. Among companies placed in the 'Z' group, 11 saw share price increases, 89 dropped, and 18 stayed the same. Meanwhile, mutual funds performed poorly as well, with only one fund registering a price increase while 29 decreased and four remained unchanged.
Consequently, the major price indices at the Dhaka Stock Exchange experienced notable drops. The core DSEX index fell by 41 points to settle at 5,614 points. The blue-chip DSE-30 index decreased by 12 points, dropping down to 2,122 points, while the DSE Shariah index dropped by 4 points to position itself at 1,128 points.
Despite the widespread downward trend, a few individual companies dominated the transaction volumes at the DSE on Sunday. Saiham Textile led the turnover with shares worth 2.675 billion taka changing hands, followed by Sharp Industries with 2.124 billion taka in transactions, and Saiham Cotton ranking third with 1.677 billion taka worth of shares traded.
A similar downward trend was observed at the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE). Out of the 174 institutions participating in transactions at the CSE, the prices of only 42 shares and units increased, while 112 declined, and 20 remained unchanged. Reflecting this negative sentiment, the CSE overall CASPI price index fell by 75 points, with total transactions at the CSE amounting to 11.01 million taka, sharply down from the 21.23 million taka recorded during the previous working day.
