A wait-and-see approach of institutional investors ahead of this month's national election and the deteriorating health of the banking sector have hit investors hard sending Dhaka stocks into the red for the fourth consecutive session yesterday.

The benchmark index of the premier bourse, DSEX, declined 19.93 points, or0.37 percent, before finishing the day at 5,275.76. It lost 85.35 points in the last four days.

The spiralling non-performing loans—which rose 24 percent year-on-year to Tk 99,370 crore at the end of the third quarter this fiscal year—are taking a toll on the banking sector.

Most of the institutional investors now prefer to wait to see how the market behaves after the polls, market insiders said.

Even foreign investors are shrinking investment fearing political tensions centring the elections, they said.

Turnover, one of the important indicators of the market, dropped 14.83 percent to Tk 483.46 crore with 11.29 crore shares and mutual fund units changing hands on the DSE.

Big investors always become cautious ahead of national elections, said a top official of an asset management company, requesting not to be named.

Banks and non-bank financial institutions continued falling in the last few days thanks to the rising NPL, pulling down the market, he said.

"The stock brokers who have availed tax advantage on the proceeds of their DSE stake sale on condition of investing the money in the market are now making investment. Otherwise, political jitters might have left a much worse impact on the market."

The stock brokers are bound to invest the proceeds in the stockmarket and place their portfolio to the National Board of Revenue within six months. Of the traded issues, 100 advanced, 202 declined and 39 closed unchanged on the premier bourse.

VFS Thread Dyeing dominated the turnover chart with 37.28 lakh shares worth Tk 23.40 crore changing hands, followed by SK Trims, JMI Syringes, Khulna Power and Rupali Life Insurance.

Among the major sectors, life insurance declined 1.52 percent, pharmaceuticals 0.82 percent and banks 0.18 percent. On the other hand, food and allied rose 3.33 percent and cement 0.47 percent, according to UCB Capital Management, a mer-

chant bank.

Sinobangla Industries was the day's best performer with a 9.89 percent gain, while Information Services Network was the worst loser, shedding 9.82 percent.

Chittagong stocks also fell with the bourse's benchmark index, CSCX, declining 24.40 points, or 0.24 percent, to finish the day at 9,781.47.

Losers beat gainers as 142 declined, 70 advanced and 30 finished unchanged on the Chittagong Stock Exchange.

The port city bourse traded 75.29 lakh shares and mutual fund units worth Tk 19.75 crore.