Dhaka, Jan. 10 -- As many as 66 stocks trade below the face value of Tk 10, 12 of them entering the list in the last one year.

They account for as much as 17 per cent of the stock market, a large enough pie to keep the market down.

But it is not the gloomy economic outlook or the depressed market that has caused price erosion. Rather, the poor performance of the companies explains why investors have shunned those.

Many of the lot even had their operations suspended for long, making them unable to give dividends to shareholders.

Some stocks traded below Tk 7 per share even after the imposition of the floor price in July last year, forbidding them to go below a certain level.

Without the restriction, the stocks could have plunged furth...