Prime Minister (PM) Sheikh Hasina has given six-point instructions for revitalising the country's stock market, including ensuring easy credit facility for market operators and attracting more foreign investment.
The PM also ordered taking necessary steps for listing more multinational companies and profitable state-owned enterprises (SoEs) as well as enhancing institutional investment in the market, according to the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC).
Other measures include enhancing participation of banks and financial institutions in the stock market, and boosting investment capacity of the state-owned Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB).
She issued the instructions as short-term measures at a meeting with the securities regulator chairman and senior government officials concerned.
It was organised to discuss the prevailing market situation and suggest possible remedies for the ailing capital market, said a press statement of the BSEC.
The meeting also discussed about some long-term measures to rejuvenate the stock market.
The PM's meeting and subsequent instructions came in the backdrop of free fall of share prices in the past few days.
Earlier on Wednesday, lawmakers discussed the DSE main index's free fall in Parliament and sought the Prime Minister's intervention.
Following investors' panic-driven sales, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) core index - DSEX - hit 56-month low on Tuesday, after losing 7.53 per cent or 335.81 points in six sessions.
On the day, the DSEX closed at 4,123.48 points, the lowest level since May 7, 2015.
In recent sessions, the losers took heavy control over the gainers, as up to 88 per cent of the listed companies lost prices. The investors lost confidence following frustrating outlook of the market.
The turnover also came down below Tk 3.0 billion, as many investors refrained from taking part in transactions.
Amid the continuous downtrend of the market, the large-cap companies, which previously supported the market, also lost prices, triggering the free fall of core index.
Protesting the fall, aggrieved investors also staged demonstrations in front of the DSE office at Motijheel in the capital.
Recently, the stock brokers submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Finance (MoF), seeking a loan amounting to Tk 100 billion to support the capital market.
The ICB also sought Tk 50 billion fund from the government to support the market.
Meanwhile, officials concerned of four state-owned commercial banks (SoCBs) have been instructed to take effective measures to gear up investment in the capital market.
The instruction came at a regular quarterly meeting of the SoCBs - Sonali, Janata, Agrani and Rupali - held at the Sonali Bank Limited headquarters in Dhaka on Thursday.
Chairmen, managing directors (MDs) and chief executive officers (CEOs), and chief financial officers (CFOs) of the public sector banks meet quarterly to enhance mutual cooperation among the SoCBs.
The meeting discussed different issues along with enhancing investment in the share market, according to an executive of a leading SoCB.
The MoF has also called a meeting with key stakeholders and the securities regulator at the ICB office on January 20.
The representatives of the BSEC, the ICB and the Bangladesh Merchant Bankers Association (BMBA) will attend the meeting to discuss the proposals so far made as market supportive measures.
The DSE somehow managed to break the losing streak with a marginal rise in core index on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the DSEX witnessed a sharp rise of 2.0 per cent or 81.62 points to close at 4,149.82 points.
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