The stock market in Bangladesh fell sharply yesterday as investors went on a spree selling shares of 27 firms which were downgraded to the Z or junk category by the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).

The DSE downgraded the 27 businesses on Wednesday for violating securities laws by failing to properly pay dividends to shareholders in the past two years.

The DSEX, the benchmark index of the country's premier bourse, fell 97.37 points, or 1.70 percent, from that on the previous day to close at 5,639, marking a fall for a second consecutive day.

Similarly, the DSES index, which represents Shariah-compliant companies, dropped by 31.26 points, or 2.42 percent, to 1,261.

The DS30 index, which represents blue-chip stocks, went down by 30.11 points, or 1.44 percent, to 2,064.

At the Chittagong Stock Exchange, the CASPI, the key index of the port city bourse, edged down by 208 points, or 1.30 percent, to settle at 15,793.

The day's turnover, which indicates the total value of shares changing hands on the trading floor, at the DSE decreased by 33.39 percent to Tk 530 crore.

The banking sector dominated the turnover chart, accounting for 35.73 percent of the total.

Block trades, meaning high-volume transactions in securities that are privately negotiated and executed outside of the open market, contributed another 2.9 percent.

Social Islami Bank emerged as the most-traded share, with a turnover of Tk 40.4 crore.

In its daily market update, BRAC EPL Stock Brokerage said all sectors which account for large amounts in market capitalisation, denoted by the total value of a company's outstanding shares, posted a negative performance.

Non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) experienced the highest loss of 2.91 percent, followed engineering (2.73 percent), fuel and power (1.24 percent), food and allied (1.14 percent), telecommunication (0.98 percent), pharmaceuticals (0.74 percent) and banking (0.43 percent).

However, jute, paper and printing and information technology (IT) were the top three sectors to close in the positive, according to the daily market update by UCB Stock Brokerage.

Of the 299 issues that changed hands on the DSE, prices of 72 increased, 25 did not see any price movement and the rest saw a decrease.

Islami Bank Bangladesh, BRAC Bank, National Bank, Beacon Pharmaceuticals, Linde Bangladesh, Bangladesh Steel Re-rolling Mills, Renata, British American Tobacco Bangladesh, Olympic Industries and Navana Pharmaceuticals suffered losses.

Shares of United Commercial Bank, IFIC Bank, Orion Infusion, ADN Telecom, Southeast Bank, Mercantile bank, Premier Bank, Trust Bank, NRB Bank and Sonali Aansh Industries drew a significant number of investors, according to LankaBangla Financial Portal.

But none of the companies saw a double-digit growth in share prices.

Of them, United Commercial Bank made the largest gain of 3.08 percent.