Nepse plunges 7.48pc

Kathmandu, November 26

The weekly loss of the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index extended for the third consecutive week as the benchmark index slumped by 124.05 points or 7.48 per cent between the period of November 20 and 24 to settle at 1,534.03 points.

Stockbrokers attribuate the market movement to a number of factors including the liquidity crunch facing the banking sector, the fact that most companies have already distributed their dividend and indirect effect of demonetisation of INR 500 and INR 1,000 banknotes by the Indian government on November 8.

“The current trend hints towards the possibility of the stock market moving towards the bearish territory,” said Narendra Raj Sijapati, managing director of Kalika Securities.

Opening at the previous week’s close of 1,658.08 points, the benchmark index saw the biggest fall of 58.46 points in the week to retreat below the threshold of 1,600 points.

On Monday, Nepse edged up by 6.67 points to land above the physiological level of 1,600 points again. The local bourse, however, reversed course and continued on its downward trajectory for the rest of the week — falling 23.82 points, 42.46 points and 5.98 points on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.

Altogether, 7.33 million shares of 152 companies worth Rs 5.07 billion changed hands through 31,336 transactions during the review period. The traded amount was 0.9 per cent higher than the previous week when 24,119 transactions of 5.29 million shares of 153 companies that amounted to Rs 5.02 billion had been undertaken.

The sensitive index, which gauges the performance of class ‘A’ stocks, dropped by 27.42 points or 7.65 per cent to 331.17 points. Likewise, the float index that measures the performance of shares actually traded also fell by 9.8 points or 7.93 per cent to 113.75 points.

Others and trading were the only two subgroups that managed to land in the green in the review period. Others edged up 6.07 points or 0.81 per cent to 753.4 points, while trading inched up by 1.12 points or 0.55 per cent to 203.91 points.

Insurance subgroup saw the biggest fall in the week of 1,148.14 points or 13.29 per cent to 7,493.05 points. National Life plunged by 32.68 per cent to Rs 2,299 and Life Insurance Co Nepal by 9.24 per cent to Rs 2,800.

Development banks plunged by 152.83 points or 8.81 per cent to 1,582.44 points. Chhimek lost 11.54 per cent to Rs 1,740 and Swabhalamban dropped 18.6 per cent to Rs 1,860. Hydropower slumped by 156.16 points or 7.4 per cent to 1,953.8 points. Chilime was down 6.25 per cent to Rs 1,065 and Api tumbled by 9.84 per cent to Rs 495.

Banking took a dive of 108.52 points or seven per cent to 1,442.09 points. This was due to commercial banks like Standard Chartered losing 7.49 per cent to Rs 2,840 and Nabil down 4.49 per cent to Rs 1,595.

Hotels trailed close behind with a descent of 140.95 points or 6.51 per cent to 2,025.51 points. Finance was down 44.97 points or 5.64 per cent to 752.53 points and manufacturing dropped by 34.09 points or 1.51 per cent to 2,228.23 points.

Meanwhile, Civil Bank maintained its lead in terms of trading volume with 460,000 of its scrips changing hands. Everest Bank was the forerunner with regard to weekly turnover with Rs 711.58 million and number of transactions — 1,959.

The other firms to make it to the list of top five in terms of turnover were National Life Insurance with Rs 384. 8 million, Shikhar Insurance with Rs 222.71 million, Bank of Kathmandu Lumbini with Rs 221.54 million and Siddhartha Bank with Rs 180.68 million.