KATHMANDU, JULY 27

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index dropped by 18.44 points, or 0.61%, on Sunday-the first trading day of the week-closing at 2,964.20 points.

Despite the headline decline, the market showed active participation, with a daily turnover of Rs 26.577 billion. A total of 58,653,762 shares of 323 companies were traded through 203,658 transactions.

The Sensitive Index, which tracks the performance of Class 'A' companies, dropped by 0.63%, while the Float Index, which measures the performance of actively traded stocks, declined by 0.70%.

Mixed Sectoral Performance

Of the 13 sectoral indices, five posted gains while eight declined. The finance sector led the losers with a drop of 1.99%, followed by hotels and tourism (-1.79%), investment (-1.66%), and hydropower (-1.09%).

On the positive side, the trading sector rose by 1.44%, followed by development banks (+1.23%) and manufacturing & processing (+1.08%).

Investor sentiment appeared mixed throughout the session. Only 23 stocks closed higher, while 186 declined. However, two stocks-Samata Gharelu Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited (SMATA) and Trade Tower Limited (TTL)-hit the 10% upper circuit limit.

With this movement, the total market capitalization reached Rs 4.946 trillion by the end of the trading session.