KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 26 The four weeks of bull run came to a halt in trading period between September 20 and 24, with Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index dropping by 0.69 per cent or 10.92 points. “A correction was overdue as the stocks had become overheated,” explained a stockbroker, seeking anonymity. He termed the market movement as ‘normal’. In the review week, a total of 40.48 million shares of 206 firms were traded that amounted to Rs 12.15 billion. The traded amount was 14.94 per cent less than in preceding week when 42.34 million shares of 204 companies had changed hands that totalled Rs 14.29 billion. Investors have flocked to the country’s sole secondary market in recent days, which analysts attribute to the unfavourable investment climate in other sectors due to the coronavirus pandemic and lower interest on bank deposits, among other reasons. Starting the week at previous week’s closing of 1,572.19 points, the benchmark index had added three points by the time of closing. However, the market reversed course over the next two days, dropping by 6.12 points on Monday and down 22.91 points on Tuesday. Even though the local bourse rebounded by 9.37 points on Wednesday and added another 5.74 points on Thursday to close the week at 1,561.27 points, the mid-week losses weighed on the performance. In tandem with Nepse, sensitive index, which measures the performance of class ‘A’ stocks, fell by 0.94 per cent or 2.93 points to 309.57 points. The float index that gauges the performance of shares actually traded also dipped by 0.54 per cent or 0.59 point to 108.23 points. In an exact reversal of the previous week when nine subgroups had recorded gains and three witnessed losses, only three subgroups landed in the green in the review week. Trading more than recovered the loss of 1.60 per cent in the previous week by surging 7.15 per cent or 72.68 points to 1,089.51 points. Finance, meanwhile, advanced 3.9 per cent or 28.36 points to 755.22 points. The subgroup had jumped 6.65 per cent in the previous week. Hydropower sub-index’s gain of 0.49 per cent or 6.35 points to 1,296.4 points in the review week was muted compared to ascent of 16.92 per cent of the past week. Meanwhile, hotels — subgroup that had led pack of gainers in past week with the sub-index soaring 23.13 per cent — landed at bottom of the pile this time around. The subgroup plunged by eight per cent or 150.70 points to 1,733.84 points. Non-life insurance descended by 2.66 per cent or 216.94 points to 7, 930.54 points. On its heels, mutual funds sub-index fell by 2.55 per cent or 0.28 point to 10.69 points. Life insurance was down 1.85 per cent or 183.01 points to 9,696.95 points. Microfinance dropped by 1.33 per cent or 34.73 points to 2,570.73 points. The loss of the remaining four subgroups was limited to below one per cent. Manufacturing slipped 0.36 per cent or 11.08 points to 3,055.1 points; banking shed 0.36 per cent or 4.47 points to 1,244.91 points; development banks inched down 0.31 per cent or 5.65 points to 1,832.31 points; and others landed at 1,017.99 points, down 0.26 per cent or 2.70 points. Meanwhile, Nepal Bank secured the top spot in terms of trading volume and weekly turnover, with 2.23 million of its shares changing hands that amounted to Rs 728.19 million. Nepal Reinsurance Co Ltd with total weekly traded amount of Rs 617.60 million, Shikhar Insurance Co Ltd with Rs 577.41 million, Reliance Life Insurance Ltd with Rs 476.10 million and Arun Kabeli Power Ltd with Rs 335.34 million rounded up the top five companies with highest weekly turnover. In terms of trading volume, National Hydro Power Co Ltd with 2.04 million shares, Arun Kabeli Power Ltd with 1.66 million shares, Arun Valley Hydropower Development Co Ltd with 1.35 million shares and Civil Bank Ltd with 1.29 million shares were other top companies. Reliance Life Insurance Ltd with 60,001 transactions was the forerunner in number of trades. It was followed by Liberty Energy Company Ltd with 17,874 transactions, NRN Infrastructure and Development Ltd with 10,735 transactions, Nepal Reinsurance Company Ltd with 8,201 transactions, and Nepal Bank Ltd with 5,869 transactions. A version of this article appears in e-paper on September 27, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.