Kathmandu, March 3 :

In response to the continuous fall in share prices of commercial banks, stock trading entered in the bear zone this week leading to the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index registering a decline of about nine points this week.

Last week it had dropped by 6.62 points. The weekly trading report from Nepse shows that its index dropped off to finish at 508.89 points on Thursday, down from 517.79 points of Sunday.

Market analysts say that the drop in Nepse index is inevitable as commercial banks are now focused on increasing their capital base and do not provide any incentives to their shareholders.

Share trading at the country’s sole secondary market began on Sunday with its index at 517.79 points and dropped steadily to 514.66 points, 511.85 points and 511.81 points on the second, third and fourth days, respectively. It further went down to close at 508.89 points on Thursday.

The weekly total turnover also dropped compared to last week and stood at Rs 144.3 million with 270,850 unit shares traded through 3,877 transactions. A total of 416,639 unit shares worth over Rs 170.4 million were traded through 2,523 transactions. Out of a total 77 listed companies for share trading, 69 companies saw transactions this week.

Group-wise share trading data shows that the manufacturing group registered a large growth of 20.21 points and closed at 342.69 points. The group, which had almost remained constant for many weeks, began trading at 322.48 points on Sunday.

Hotel group, another slow racer at Nepse, also saw a significant rise in its index. The group registered a growth of 10.26 points and closed at 218.17 points from an opening 207.81 points. Likewise, the insurance group posted a modest growth, as its index closed at 639.69 points. The group, which began trading at 638.68 points, had a huge gain last week.

Leading scrips at Nepse including the commercial banks group suffered heavily, which dragged the country’s sole secondary market into the bear territory. Among the losers, the commercial banks’ index plunged by 16.05 points to land at 539.43 points. The group had begun trading at 555.48 points on Sunday.

Likewise, the finance group also incurred a huge loss, as its index fell by 6.69 points. The group’s index that stood at 455.02 points on Sunday dropped to 448.33 points on the closing day. The development banks group lost 1.54 points and its index dropped to 525.60 points on Thursday.

The others group lost 3.49 points and closed at 663.13 points. The group had opened trading on Sunday with its index at 666.62 points. The trading group did not see any change as none of its shares saw transaction and its index froze at 152.79 points.

Despite a heavy loss, the commercial banks group continued its domination by capturing the largest share of the total trading. The group cornered 69.85 per cent of the total trading. The other group came second with 10.32 per cent and the development banks group had 9.47 per cent share. The finance group also had a 6.37 per cent share, while the insurance group had 2.99 per cent of the total trading.