Brokers said ongoing pessimism coupled with liquidity shortage and lack of market depth kept investors mostly inactive.
Large-cap five stocks -BATBC, ICB, Brac Bank, Berger Paints and City Bank, contributed more than 20 points fall of DSEX jointly, said an analyst.
However, GP, which is the largest company by capital, rose 1.97 per cent to close at Tk 321.60 each on Tuesday.
The market opened on downward trend and the downturn continued until end of the session with no sign of reversal.
At the end of the session, DSEX, the prime index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, plunged 52.74 points or 1.11 per cent to settle at 35-month lowest at 4,708.
Two other indices also closed lower. The DS30 index, comprising blue chips, fell 14.60 points to finish at 1,660 and the DSES (Shariah) index lost 8.56 points to settle at 1,080.
Turnover dipped to Tk 2.88 billion, which was 18 per cent lower than the previous session's turnover of Tk 3.50 billion.
International Leasing Securities said the depressed market outlook kept the investors upset, resulting poor market participation.
Notable selling of shares on most of the major sectors contributed to the big fall in indices, said the stockbroker.
Among the major sectors, engineering saw the highest loss of 3.10 per cent, followed by non-bank financial institutions with 3.01 per cent, food 2.36 per cent, banking 1.05 per cent and pharma 0.54 per cent.
On the other hand, telecom and power sector gained 1.81 per cent and 0.03 per cent respectively.
The losers took a strong lead over the gainers as out of 352 issues traded, 292 closed lower, 30 ended higher and 30 issues remained unchanged on the DSE trading floor.
A total number of 96,565 trades were executed in the day's trading session with trading volume of 97.26 million shares and mutual fund units.
The market-cap of the DSE also fell to Tk 3,561 billion on Tuesday, from Tk 3,588 billion in the previous day.
National Tubes topped the turnover chart with shares worth Tk 144 million changing hands, closely followed by United Power, Monno Jute Stafflers, Silco Pharma and Eastern Insurance.
Golden Harvest Agro Industries was the day's best performer, posting a gain of 9.32 per cent while Anlima Yarn was the day's worst loser, losing 9.80 per cent.
The port city bourse, Chittagong Stock Exchange, ended lower with the CSE All Share Price Index - CASPI - slumping 162 points to settle at 14,320 while the Selective Categories Index -losing 97 points to finish at 8,708.
Here too, the losers beat the gainers as 193 issues drifted lower, 26 ended higher and 21 remained unchanged.
The port city bourse traded 5.75 million shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 107 million in turnover.
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