The core index of the Dhaka bourse fell 133 points on Sunday, the biggest single-day fall in the last 55 months, as worried investors sold shares in bulk, fearing further fall.
However, in terms of percentage, Sunday's fall is the 32 months largest fall as DSE core index fell 2.34 per cent or 98 points on April 26, 2015.
Market operators said growing political tension coupled with fears of liquidity shortage due to the central bank's latest directive to slash the limit of banks' advance-deposit ratio (ADR) kept most of the investors at bay.
The market started with a steep decline and the downward trend continued till end of the session with no sign of reversal.
Finally it ended more than 133 points lower.
DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), plunged more than 133 points or 2.21 per cent to settle at 5,888.
On June 9, 2013, DSEX slumped 145 points or 3.60 per cent.
Two other indices of the premier bourse also saw sharp decline. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, plunged 36 points or 1.63 per cent to finish at 2,191 and DSES (Shariah) dropped by 20 points or 1.42 per cent to close at 1,377.
"The continuous fall of the index has been triggered by the liquidity shortage persisting in the market and political tension surrounded by the upcoming election," commented EBL Securities, in its regular market analysis.
The stockbroker noted that earning declarations from several companies failed to meet the investors' expectation.
LankaBangla Securities, a stockbroker, said, "The market is still reacting negatively to monetary policy statement unveiled last week and also to the anticipated political instability of this week".
All the major large cap sectors registered negative movements with selling pressure on stocks from financial institutions, banking, engineering and power sectors, losing 3.80 per cent, 3.20 per cent, 2.80 per cent and 1.30 per cent respectively.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 336 issues traded, 302 closed lower, 23 higher and 11 remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
A total number of 90,330 trades were executed in the day's trading session with trading volume of 110.90 million securities.
The market capilatisation of DSE fell to Tk 4,112 billion against Tk 4,176 billion in the previous session.
National Bank topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 172 million changing hands, followed by LankaBangla Finance, Square Pharmaceuticals, Beximco Pharma and Alif Industries.
Berger Paints was the day's highest gainer, posting a gain of 4.86 per cent while Midas Financial was the worst loser, losing 7.99 per cent.
CSE also closed lower with CSE All Share Price Index - CAPSI- shedding 404 points to settle at 18,219 and Selective Categories Index - CSCX - falling 244 points to finish at 11,005.
Here too, the losers beat the gainers as 195 issues closed lower, 14 ended higher and 12 remained unchanged on the CSE.
The port city bourse traded 7.10 million shares and mutual fund units worth nearly Tk 166 million in turnover.
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