The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), the country’s primary capital market, experienced a downtrend on Thursday, with its benchmark index, DSEX, dropping by 16.67 points to 5,243.59 within the first two hours of trading.

Trading activity was subdued compared to previous days. During the initial two-hour window, shares and mutual funds worth Tk 152.3 crore were traded, marking a sharp decline from Tk 172 crore on Wednesday and Tk 224.3 crore on Tuesday. A total of 5.25 crore shares and units were exchanged through 54,647 transactions.

Out of the 378 companies participating in Thursday’s trading session, 154 companies saw their share prices increase, 140 companies registered declines, and 84 remained unchanged.

While the main index, DSEX, fell, the DSES Shariah index inched up by 0.95 points to 1,163.47. However, the DS30 index, which tracks blue-chip stocks, dropped by 1.9 points to 1,932.68.