The number of beneficiary owner’s accounts with zero account balance has increased since January amid the prolonged downbeat vibe on the country’s stock market.

A total of 67,617 BO owners have cleared out the balance from their BO accounts from the start of the year, according to Central Depository Bangladesh Limited data.

The number of BO accounts with zero share balance on January 1 was 2,96,901, which increased to 3,65,772 till April 25.

According to the data till April 25, the number of BO accounts with a share balance was 13,46,289 while 14,04,289 accounts had share balance on January 1.

Opening a BO account with the CDBL through a depository participant, which is usually a stockbroker or a merchant bank, is a must for trading shares at the Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchanges.

Market operators said that the continued decline in share prices on the stock exchanges caused the investors panic and losses which contributed to their concerns about the capital market.

DSEX, the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, has been on a losing streak since the start of the year. The key index of the DSE decreased by 11.62 per cent, or 724.39 points, since January.

On April 25, the DSEX lost 60.48 points to close at 5,518.48 points after the Bangladesh

Securities and Exchange Commission imposed share price-fall limit on companies.

The BSEC on April 24 restricted share price fall at maximum 3 per cent for all companies but those which are still under floor price restriction.

Abdullah Al Mahmud, a director of the DSE, said, ‘We should have become proactive long ago, so that the market improves. Good performing companies are not entering the market.’

Also a professor at the University of Dhaka, Mahmud said that manipulation on the market and policies that concerns investors were another reasons that investors were turning their face away from the market.

Market operators pointed out that the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission’s decision to increase the minimum investment requirement on the secondary market to apply for shares in an initial public offering was another reason for shifting funds from their BO accounts by a section of investors.

Shyamol Equity Management Ltd managing director Md Sajedul Islam said that many marginal investors benefitted as the investment requirement were less before.

From January 1 to April 25, selling spree among investors have caused Tk 81,262 crore being vanished from the overall market capitalisation.

The market capitalisation in January 1 was Tk 7,80,823.42 crore while it came down to Tk 6,99,561.10 crore on April 25.

The total number of BO accounts, however, witnessed increase in this timeframe.

According to the CDBL data, the total number of BO accounts on April 25 stood at 17,88,533 while it was 17,73,551 on January 1.