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Bdnews24.com Shakil Aman, a private service holder who also plays the stock market, stood outside a brokerage house in the city's commercial hub Motijheel.
"I'd better quit the shares business. It is impossible for me to bet on quality shares," he told bdnews24.com.
Shakil said he was hoping to buy into some majors in banks and pharmaceuticals.
"But I haven't been able to make any such purchases, as I have to buy a lot of at least 50 shares of each of the issues. I don't have that kind of money to trade," he said.
Like Shakil, many other retail investors are stuck in this maze of the 'market lot'.
Overpricing of top category shares has caused small-scale investors to stay clear of them. Consequently, they have little choice but to bet on relatively poor performers—all too often, incurring losses and losing heart.
"Market experts blame us retail investors for betting on Z scrips, but what else can we do? I can't afford now to put money on good issues," said Abdul Mannan, a retired banker who has been investing in stocks for almost twelve years.
As the cost of living increases, with prices of essentials spiralling, small-scale investors are finding it hard to invest enough funds in the market to make it worth their while.
All quality scrips, as well as under-performers, come for trade in 'market lots' ranging between 10 and 100 shares—though there are exceptions such as Islami Bank, which comes in a single share lot.
Retail investors are seeing the practice of 'trading in market lots' as the reason for their inability to invest in premium scrips.
Brokerage houses echoed their discontent with the system, saying trading in lots is useless in the wake of automated trading.
"It was needed when we had to trade manually, but nowadays it is of no use," a brokerage house official told bdnews24.com.
An analysis of price data over the previous month showed that premium shares have rocketed up to between 100 and 180 times greater than their face values.
Only large scale and institutional investors were able to bag them, while retail investors were left behind.
Market players and observers agreed with the fact that trading in market lots was a redundant policy.
"In an era of electronic trading, the market lot has become an obsolete thing," said Yaweer Sayeed, CEO of private asset management company AIMS of Bangladesh.
Trading in lots happens nowhere in the world except Bangladesh, he added.
Investment consultant Bashir Ahmed said that there was no logic to forcing an investor to buy in market lots.
"There is also a trend for Bangladeshi companies to overprice the face value of their shares, while a lot tends to consist of somewhere between 10 and 100 shares," added Bashir, who is with brokerage house Stocks & Bonds.
The Securities and Exchange Commission says there is no hard and fast rule about face value or keeping a single share in a lot.
"It is decided according to the individual company's policies and in line with the Companies Act. We do not have anything to say about it," SEC executive director Anwarul Kabir Bhuyian told bdnews24.com.
There is nothing to do if someone falls short of funds to put money on shares, said the market regulator.
"That's the rule of global economy," he added
More investments are most certainly needed in the capital market, say market analysts.
While the market regulators and the government are trying their best to encourage more companies to enter the market, efforts targeted to creating more investors are also required, they say.
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