DHAKA, May 2: Stocks in Bangladesh tumbled closer to a 10-month low on Monday, prompting investors to call for the government’s intervention to arrest an ‘abnormal’ downslide that has seen the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) lose about 550 points or 27 per cent since mid-March. The DSE general index shed 102 points or 6.6 per cent to close at 1,435.6 points, with only eight issues gaining and 148 losing.

At the Chittagong Stock Exchange, the All Share Price Index closed at 2,865.4 points, down 172.5 or 5.7 per cent with losers outnumbering the gainers 60 to 5. Waves of institutional selling over the past one month stirred the abnormal downslide, triggering panic sales among investors.

Some of them started likening the situation to the prelude to the 1996 scam. Market observers said it would be very difficult to restore investors’ confidence if any steps are not taken. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mirza Azizul Islam termed the market behaviour ‘not logical’.

Unnerved investors demonstrated near at the Dhaka Stock Exchange and the SEC and alleged that institutional buyers had been playing foul over the past one month while the regulatory body had sat idle.

“The market, without any valid reasons, is close to losing all the gains it has made in the past four years. Small investors have already been thrown out in the streets,” says a memorandum of Bangladesh Share Market Investors Development Association, which was submitted to the SEC chairman on Monday.

“Our finance minister should play a role here,” said Golam Faruk, a member of the association. “Small investors regained confidence over the years. The government has to take action to keep up their confidence.”

Meanwhile, a DSE delegation, led by its president Shahik Khan, met the SEC chairman to discuss the latest development in the capital market.