The stock market has strongly turned around as local and foreign investors remained active following the regulator's measures to make the ailing market healthy.
Some positive economic indicators encouraged investors to hold positions on large-cap securities.
The prime index of Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) went up by 912 points or 23 percent on Thursday after the reopening of the market on 31 May, and has witnessed a gaining streak in the past ten consecutive weeks.
The DSE market-cap has recovered Tk 59200 crore during the period.
Market analysts said the capital market regulator's strict stance on ensuring mandatory shareholding, and exemplary punishment handed out to offenders worked well to rebuild investors’ confidence in the market.
The securities regulator's latest stance on ensuring mandatory 2 percent shareholding by each director and 30 percent shareholding jointly had a positive impact on the stock prices, they said.
After taking over in May, the new Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) chairman Shibli Rubaiyat held meetings with top officials of the Ministry of Finance, Bangladesh Bank and NBR.
He talked to stock market-related parties as well, a senior official of the BSEC said.
The regulator took various initiatives to bring back investors and entrepreneurs to the market, he added.
There is no alternative but revival of the stock market to accelerate the economy, he underscored.
As part of the move, the new chairman reopened the stock market, which had been closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, by contacting the top level of the government, he said.
During the rogue virus pandemic, the stock markets all over the world remained open, but it was closed only in Bangladesh, he mentioned.
The market reopened on May 31 after shutdown for more than two months, he said adding, commercial banks were urged to return to invest in the stock market to attract investors.
However, the DS30 index, comprising blue chips, increased by about 363 points to settle at 1,690 on Thursday during the last ten weeks and the DSE Shariah Index went up by almost 211 points to finish at 1,130 on Thursday during the time.
The port city bourse, the Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE), also saw a positive trend during the time with its selective category index (CSCX) gaining around 1566 points to close at almost 8,384 points.
On the other hand, the all share price index of the CSE (CASPI) was higher by almost 2611 points during the last nine weeks to close at about 13,873 points.
Experts said investors are injecting fresh funds into the market for the last several weeks targeting capital gains as returns from the money market have declined significantly.
Eminent economist and market expert Prof Abu Ahmed told Bangladesh Post, “The market has gone down a lot and has risen a bit from there.”
Investors are seeing some hope, he said adding, the government should bring some good companies to build a strong capital market.
A leading broker said steps such as the stock market regulator's assurance not to lift floor price restriction until the market gets stable, no major spike in Covid-19 new cases and gradual reopening of the economy attracted investors to buy shares.
