KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 17
The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index fell by 34.68 points or 1.81 per cent to retreat below 1,900 points in the trading week between December 11 and 15.
Although persistent liquidity pressure in the country and weak investor sentiment continues to dent the growth of the share market at present, the situation has become favourable for long-term investors, stakeholders say.
"About 18 per cent of the country's population are involved in the share market directly or indirectly.
The secondary market has slumped from 3,200 points over the past 15 months and is hovering between 1,800 and 1,900 points at present.
Now is the right time to invest in the share market as there is a low chance for the market to fall further.
Also, prices of some stocks have dropped compared to when the benchmark index was around 1,100 points. The risks of investing in share market have also dropped to 20 per cent as the market is currently in the red zone. Always invest in a bear market so that you can enjoy the bull market," Chhote Lal Rauniyar, former president of Nepal Investors Forum, opined, adding that those who need not take loans to invest in the market should do so.
The sensitive index, which measures performance of class 'A' stocks, decreased by 1.50 per cent or 5.60 points to 368.04 points in the review period. The float index that gauges performances of shares actually traded also slipped by 2.94 per cent to 132.08 points.
Altogether 16.93 million shares were traded during the review week through 103,008 transactions that amounted to Rs 5.16 billion. The weekly turnover decreased by over 11 per cent compared to the previous week when 18.49 million shares had changed hands through 91,777 transactions that totalled Rs 5.85 billion, although the market was open for just four days in the previous week.
In this regard, the average daily turnover fell further to Rs 1.03 billion this week against Rs 1.46 billion in the preceding week.
The benchmark index had opened at 1,917.28 points on Sunday and fell by 31.97 points to close at 1,885.31 points for the day. The market rose by 16.96 points on Monday to 1,902.21 points before losing 2.57 points on Tuesday to retreat below the 1,900 threshold at 1,899.70 points. On Wednesday, the market fell again by 2.62 points to 1,897.08 points, followed by a decrease of 14.48 points on Thursday to settle at 1,882.60 points for the week.
Apart from others and hydropower, all the subgroups landed in the red this week. The others sub-index inched up by 2.18 per cent or 31.55 points to 1,475.72 points, while hydropower gained 6.20 points or 0.31 per cent to 1,990.52 points.
Meanwhile, finance subgroup dropped by 1.67 per cent or 25.90 points to 1,526.65 points; development banks lost 0.94 per cent or 31.81 points to 3,343.57 points; investment fell by 1.52 per cent or 0.86 points to 53.62 points; manufacturing and processing fell by 0.99 per cent or 49.13 points to 4,937.07 points; non-life insurance lost 1.17 per cent or 88.34 points to 7,463.12 points.
Banking, the subgroup with the highest weightage on the market capitalisation, landed at 1,285.38 points, down 3.93 per cent or 52.55 points. Mutual funds dipped by 0.67 per cent or 0.09 point to 13.27 points; microfinance shed 1.40 per cent or 61.01 points to 4,305.45 points; life insurance edged down 1.59 per cent or 146.56 points to 9,064.75 points; and the trading subgroup slipped 1.55 per cent or 28.88 points to 1,831.26 points.
A version of this article appears in the print on December 18, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
