Retail investors have few quality stocks to choose from while large institutions stay away
12 July 2026, 00:00 AM
Ahsan Habib
Although 360 companies are listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), just 10 account for nearly 40 percent of its total market capitalisation, showing the limited depth of the local capital market.Analysts say the concentration leaves investors with relatively few quality stocks, discourages institutional participation and keeps the market small compared with regional peers.Grameenphone, the country’s largest listed company, alone accounts for almost one-tenth of the DSE’s total market capitalisation of Tk 360,895 crore. It is followed by Square Pharmaceuticals and Robi Axiata. Together, the three companies make up about one-fifth of the market value.Market capitalisation is calculated by multiplying a company’s share price by its outstanding shares. The combined value of all listed companies represents the total market capitalisation of the exchange.Majority-owned by Norway’s Telenor, Grameenphone ended fiscal year 2025-26 with a market value of Tk 35,053 crore. It had 135 crore outstanding shares, while its stock closed the year at Tk 259.According to DSE data, Square Pharmaceuticals ranks second with a market capitalisation of Tk 19,856 crore, followed by Robi Axiata at Tk 17,075 crore. BRAC Bank, Walton Hi-Tech Industries, British American Tobacco Bangladesh, Marico Bangladesh, United Power Generation, Berger Paints and LafargeHolcim Bangladesh complete the top 10.“This shows that the market has a lower number of giant companies,” said Saiful Islam, president of the DSE Brokers Association (DBA). “When the market does not have enough good and big companies, investors do not feel interested in coming here.”Weak investor participation is reflected in the sharp fall in beneficiary owner (BO) accounts, which dropped to 16.75 lakh at the end of fiscal year 2025-26 from 31.53 lakh on July 1, 2016.Saiful said the market needed more large, fundamentally strong companies and suggested direct listing could be considered to bring some of them onto the exchange.The shrinking pool of highly valued companies has become more visible after the removal of the floor price mechanism.Beximco, which had a market value of Tk 10,385 crore only a few months ago while its share price remained fixed under the floor price, has since seen its valuation fall to Tk 2,763 crore as the stock declined sharply.After the political changeover in August 2024, the company faced a series of setbacks. Its factories remained closed, it has not published financial statements for the past two years, and its share price dropped to Tk 28 on Thursday last week from Tk 110 two months earlier.
