Kathmandu, April 2

The 14 consecutive week-on-week share market bull-run came to a screeching halt, as the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index entered a correction mode, dipping by 1.66 points or 0.12 per cent, in the week of March 27 to 31.

The benchmark index, which had opened at a previous high of 1,357.14 points on Sunday had surged by 20.19 points to a fresh peak of 1,377.33 points by the day’s closing. On Monday, when the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) alerted stock investors to adopt caution, the Nepse index shed 2.58 points.

Even as the securities market regulator had issued such warning around two weeks ago as well, investors seemed to have heeded to the advice this time around, as the local bourse continued southbound for the remainder of the week — down 4.71 points on Tuesday, 7.06 points on Wednesday and 7.5 points on Thursday.

Altogether, 6.81 million shares of 145 companies that amounted to Rs 3.88 billion were traded through 17,544 transactions during the week. The traded amount was 13.16 per cent higher than the preceding week when 16,047 transactions of 6.58 million scrips worth Rs 3.43 billion had been undertaken.

The sensitive index, which gauges the performance of class ‘A’ stocks, dipped 0.09 per cent to 292.22 points. However, the float index that measures the performance of shares actually traded inched up 0.11 per cent to 97.66 points.

Even as five subgroups landed in the green, the gain was offset by the loss of three subgroups — mainly insurance and others. Trading, meanwhile, continued to hold steady at 201.38 points.

Finance led the pack of gainers, with the subgroup ascending 1.73 per cent to 687.59 points. Citizen Investment Trust surged by Rs 130 to Rs 3,880, Guheshwori Merchant advanced Rs 58 to Rs 338, and Central edged up six rupees to Rs 233, among others.

Share value of Unilever Nepal went up by Rs 495 to Rs 29,000, which in turn helped the manufacturing subgroup to record a rise of 1.28 per cent to 2,024.73 points.

Compared to the previous week’s surge of 3.23 per cent, the gain made by commercial banks was muted this time, with the sub-index up 1.11 per cent to 1,247.6 points. Standard Chartered rose by Rs 48 to Rs 3,018, Nabil by Rs 75 to Rs 2,060 and Everest by Rs 35 to Rs 2,705.

Hotels and hydropower subgroups barely managed to land in the green, with the sub-indices up 0.69 per cent to 1,791.39 points and 0.23 per cent to 2,323.74 points, respectively.

On the other hand, insurance saw the previous week’s gain of three per cent wiped out as the subgroup dropped by 4.16 per cent to 6,073.06 points. Nepal Life Insurance plunged by Rs 225 to Rs 3,600, Life Insurance Co Nepal by Rs 175 to Rs 3,580, and Prudential by Rs 107 to Rs 850, among others.

Similar was the fate of others subgroup, which dropped 2.66 per cent to 817.67 points, weighed down by Nepal Telecom’s share value sliding by Rs 19 to Rs 696.

Development banks went down 0.48 per cent to 1,354.31 points.

Nepal Life Insurance Co topped the chart in terms of turnover with Rs 347.47 million, followed by Nepal Bank with Rs 266.77 million, Citizens Bank International with Rs 187.96 million, Everest Bank with Rs 184.72 million and Sanima Bank with Rs 166.94 million.

Nepal Bank was the forerunner in terms of number of shares traded with 666,000 of its scrips changing hands, while Citizens Bank International secured the top spot for most number of transactions — 908.