Relevant Factors to Explain Cross-Section of Expected Returns of the Firms Listed in the Dhaka Stock Exchange

Using the well-known Fama-MacBeth methodology, this paper investigates the factors that may influence the cross-section of stock returns in the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE). Various combinations of factors such as dividend yield, size, price-earnings ratio, market return, spread between large and small firms, lagged values of factors, illiquidity of stocks, and cross-sectional volatility of the market are considered. However, results show that these factors hardly explain the cross-section of stock returns. Only market returns weakly explain stock returns. Interestingly, the relationship between market returns and stock returns has been consistently found to be negative, which contradicts the established notion of positive risk-return relationship. Even after considering for the effects of size, liquidity, and sub-periods, results do not change much.