KATHMANDU: The Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) has directed Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) to reopen trading from Monday.

The country’s sole secondary market has been shut since more than three months due to the unfavourable circumstances caused by the COVID-19 spread in the country.

In between this period, Nepse was able to open for only two days due to rising COVID-19 cases and the continuous lockdown.

Nepse had resumed trading on May 12 after a 50-day break, as per the direction of SEBON. However, it remained open for only two days after the market tumbled noticeably.

At that time, SEBON had introduced new rules and trading had been limited to just two hours per day from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm.

Though lockdown was eased almost two weeks ago allowing banks and financial institutions, insurance firms and other companies to open, Nepse trading was kept on hold drawing criticism from investors and sharebrokers.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on June 29, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.