Bangladesh's main Dhaka Stock Exchange General Index slumped by more than 600 points or 7.76 percent to 7,135 on Sunday, the steepest one-day fall in its history. After a succession of daily falls the first week of the year has seen the benchmark index fall by 555 points.
Some banks who had invested 75 percent of their deposits in the stock market against a ceiling of 10 percent had been told to get back under the limit by Dec. 30, but this deadline has now been extended to January 15.
As the market remained volatile, additional police and members of the Rapid Action Battalion were deployed in front of the DSE building on Sunday following protests earlier in the week. "We are suffering huge losses and the authority should take immediate action," said Harunur Rashid, a small investor.
"They must take steps to maintain a stabilised market which will save the stocks from being pulled down or up whimsically," said Gazi Mahbub, another investor.
The central bank had raised banks' cash requirement ratio from 5.5 percent to 6 percent, effective Dec. 15, to rein in inflation and curb a runaway credit flow, especially to the volatile capital markets.
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