Abstract
Traditionally, firm size has adopted in
numerous heuristic asset pricing models as a determining factor of expected
stock returns. So far as like systematic risk “beta”, there is diminutive
consensus over the magnitude and firmness of the “size” premium. Converging on
the controversy this article attempts to examine the traditional Capital Asset
Pricing Model (CAPM) and “size” augmented CAPM in the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE). The goal of this
article is to examine the impact of an overall market factor and factor related
to the firm size risk on expected stock returns at the portfolio level. Our
sample encompasses non-financial stocks listed in DSE, with daily observations
starting from January 2014 to December 2018. Depending on Market Capitalization
and Book-to-Market Ratios we construct nine different portfolios, Ordinary Least Square (OLS)
regression methodology is used to examine the models. Unlike common reckoning,
we observe the strong existence of the “size” effect in frontier equity market
DSE and has a tangible impact on explaining expected stock returns at the
portfolio level. Additionally, the “size” augmented Capital Asset Pricing Model
explains DSE better than the standard CAPM, may indeed be a good tool for a
realistic assessment of the expected asset returns, and can improve the
description of equilibrium in the Frontier equity market DSE.
JEL classification numbers: E44, G11, G12.
Keywords: Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), Size Premium, Frontier Equity
Market.