KATHMANDU: Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) Ltd remained non-fucntional today due to protests by investors -- General Investors' Association, Nepal Investors' Forum and Nepal Securities Investors' Association. On Wednesday, these organizations had announced their protest programmes including boycott of transactions on February 21-22.

Investors have put a 22-point charter of demands before the government including ending the policy of changing 19 per cent promoters' shares into general shares and setting new criteria for taxes on capital gain tax (CGT). The government is taking 10 per cent CGT on each transaction.

Nepse is continually falling since last September and stood at 485.14 points on Friday. Investors are alleging that the government has not taken steps to upgrad the capital market.

According to them, the overflow of number of shares in the market has brought Nepse down as the number of investors did not increase commensurately.

Issuing a statement, Nepse voiced grave concern over the protest of investor organizations. "The current protest of investors has blocked regular work of Nepse and this is not fair," it read.

Nepse is the sole place to buy and sell shares, and is a barometer of the situation of the country's economy. Hence, blocking transactions is not fair. "We urge investors to be serious about the issue and stop boycotting transactions," it said.