Stocks suffered a sharp fall yesterday with the key index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange going down below the 4,000-point mark for the first time in 18 months.

DSEX, the benchmark index, plunged 87.54 points or 2.16 percent, before finishing the first working day of the week at 3,959.73 points. The index closed at 3993.33 points on November 3 in 2013. Poor earnings performance by most companies in the January-March quarter wrecked investors' sentiment, said LankaBangla Securities. Investors were going through the earnings season and looking for companies that show some sort of good visibility, the stockbroker said.

Comparatively lower earning disclosures due to the aftereffects of political blockades during the first quarter of this year increased pessimism and brought another collapse aaossthe market, IDLC Investments said.

During the trading session, the investors remained hooked to sell off their positions amid growing apprehension, the merchant bank said.

The day's turnover, another important indicator of the market, also dropped 13.56 percent to Tk 330.44 crore with 8.03 crore shares and mutual fund units changing hands.

United Power Generation and Distribution Company topped the turnover leaders' chart with transactions of 19.46 lakh shares worth Tk 34.97 crore, followed by ACI Formulations, ACI, Square Pharma and Lafarge Surma Cement

Losers outnumbered the gainers, 218 to 68, white 19 securities remained unchanged on the DSE floor.

Among the major seaors, engineering took the highest hit with a 6.44 percent fall, followed by fuel and power 2.17 percent non-banking financial institutions 1.86 percent, bank 1.09 percent and telecom 0.41 percent.

Intech Online was the day's best performer, advancing by 31.25 percent, while BSRM was the worst loser, slumping by 21.36 percent. Chittagong stocks also crashed yesterday with the bourse's benchmark index, CSCX, plunging by 115.16 points to 7,433.81.

Losers beat the gainers as 154 scrips declined and 44 advanced while 22 closed unchanged on the Chittagong Stock Exchange. The port city bourse traded 62.93 lakh shares and mutual fund units, generating a turnover of Tk 25.05 crore.