The small investors also demanded immediate steps to stop downslide in indices. They blamed the government's contractionary monetary policy and 'failure' of the capital market regulatory body for the prolonged bearish trend in the country's stock markets.

They urged the government to reduce bank interest rate. They also said the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) should stop floatation of initial public offerings (IPOs) frequently.

They said many investors have withdrawn money from the market to apply for the IPOs, resulting in a liquidity crisis.

The SEC in 2005 allowed 17 companies to float primary shares.

Share prices on the premier bourse, which has been experiencing bearish trends since early January, went down sharply yesterday for the sixth consecutive day.

The DSE General Index yesterday lost 30.83 points to close at 1518.34 points from the previous trading day's 1549.18 points. The index declined by 21.68 points on Sunday.

The demonstration took place as the share prices started falling from the very beginning of the day.

Earlier on February 13, the small investors demonstrated in front of the DSE building when the price indices experienced a huge fall at one stage on the day.

A total of 2,430,970 shares of 188 issues worth Tk 18.27 crore changed hands on the DSE yesterday against the previous day's 1,651,988 shares of 175 issues worth Tk 17.71 crore. Of the issues traded, 29 gained, 139 suffered losses and 20 remained unchanged.

DSE Chief Executive Officer Salahuddin Ahmed Khan said it is a natural phenomenon that there will be many ups and downs in stock markets. "The investors should not be panicked without any valid reason," he said.