KATHMANDU, MARCH 4

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) dropped by 30.36 points, or 1.05%, on Tuesday, closing at 2,846.30 points by the end of the trading session. After a strong rally on Sunday, when the index surged by 75.24 points, the market failed to maintain its upward momentum, slipping by 13.62 points on Monday and extending losses into Tuesday.

Along with the decline in the benchmark index, the daily turnover also decreased significantly. A total of 26,389,910 shares of 318 companies were traded in 122,336 transactions, bringing the turnover down to Rs 12.9 billion. This marks a drop from Monday's intraday turnover of Rs 14.28 billion and Sunday's Rs 14.25 billion. While Monday saw a slight increase in turnover despite the index decline, the trend could not be sustained, leading to a notable drop on Tuesday.

Sector-wise, all industries ended in the red. The Manufacturing and Processing sector led the losses with a 2.21% drop, followed by the Finance sector (-2.10%). Other major sectoral losses included the Investment sector (-1.75%), Microfinance (-1.41%), Non-Life Insurance (-1.11%), Hydropower (-1.08%), and Banking (-1.05%). Losses in other sectors remained below 1%.

The Sensitive Index, which tracks Class 'A' stocks, declined by 1.10%, while the Float Index, which measures actively traded stocks, fell by 1.03%.

Among individual stocks, Guardian Micro Life Insurance Limited (GMLI) defied the broader market trend, surging 10% and hitting the upper circuit limit. In contrast, Sindhu Bikash Bank Ltd (SINDU) fell 10%, hitting the lower circuit limit.

Overall, 41 stocks advanced, 198 declined, and five remained unchanged.

By the end of the trading day, NEPSE's total market capitalization stood at Rs 4.726 trillion.