The companies, dubbed as Z Group for failing to declare dividend or hold regular annual general meetings, are Bengal Steel Ltd., Karim Pipe Ltd., AB Biscuit Ltd., Dhaka Vegetable Ltd., Paragon Leather, Rupan Oil Ltd., National Oxygen Ltd., STM, Gem Knitwear, Bangla Process, TBL, JH Chemical, Mark Bd Shilpa, Texpic Industries Ltd., Highspeed Ship and Meghna Vegetable.

Following the move, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) General Index that had been on a sudden and 'abnormal' bull-run since Saturday lost 9.23 points to close at 973.88. However, the DSE-20, an index of blue chip companies, gained 42.06 points yesterday to close at 1300.52.

Since Saturday, the stock market started running uphill when the DSE General Index was 881.736 points and the DSE-20 Index 1133..

The SEC found no logic in the price wildfire, as the financial health of many weak companies does not support the swing.

Analysts Tuesday cautioned investors as they found no rationale behind the price run.

"Investors are requested to make investment decisions after considering both fundamental and technical analysis of securities. They are also requested not to invest in securities whimsically," the SEC advised.

Welcoming the SEC move, Yawer Sayeed, chief executive officer of Asset & Investment Management Services (AIMS) of Bangladesh Ltd., said: "The market correction was overdue. There was a lot of selling pressure which pushed the turnover up."

Despite the SEC move, share prices of companies with strong fundamentals did not see any sharp decline, which was a positive sign, analysts said.

Of the 215 issues traded on the DSE yesterday, 34 gained, while 178 dropped and three issues remained unchanged.

Of the 85 issues traded on Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) yesterday, 22 gained, 59 lost and four remained unchanged.

The CSE Selective Index declined 1.3 points to close at 1568.59 points yesterday.

According to the DSE, 64 companies did not pay any dividend in the 2000 and 49 in 2001. Seventy-six companies are yet to declare dividend for 2002.