Kathmandu, March 25
The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index fell by 18.17 points or 0.984 per cent to edge closer to 1,900 points in the trading week between March 19 and 23.
The market dipped throughout the trading week apart from when the market had gone up by double digits on Monday, as political, policy and financial interventions continue to worry stakeholders of any significant improvements in the market any time soon. With the formation of the ruling coalition in process following the presidential as well as the vice-presidential elections, investors are in a state of wait and watch, analysts say.
The sensitive index, which measures performance of class 'A' stocks, decreased by 1.03 per cent or 3.77 points to 361.01 points in the review period. The float index that gauges performances of shares actually traded also fell by 1.05 per cent to 134.18 points.
Altogether 16.53 million shares were traded during the review week through 120,227 transactions that amounted to Rs 5.11 billion.
The weekly turnover dived by 18.92 per cent compared to the previous trading week, when 18.57 million shares had changed hands through 141,469 transactions that totalled Rs 6.30 billion.
However, as the market was open for just four days in the review week compared to the five trading days in the previous week, the average daily turnover in the review week actually went up by 1.34 per cent to Rs 1.27 billion, compared to Rs 1.26 billion in the preceding week.
The benchmark index had opened at 1,933.31 points on Sunday and fell by 6.91 points to 1,926.40 points by the time of closing. On Monday, the market gained 22.66 points to 1,949.06 points before witnessing a downward trend throughout the trading week.
The market remained closed on Tuesday on the occasion of Ghode Jatra before losing 15.77 points on Wednesday to close at 1,933.29 points.
On Thursday, the Nepse index fell again by 18.15 points to settle at 1,915.14 for the trading week.
Microfinance led the pack of losers after falling by 2.62 per cent to 3,478.57 points.
Similarly, manufacturing and processing fell by 2.39 per cent to 4,350.20 points; mutual funds fell by 2.01 per cent to 13.64 points; life insurance by 1.93 per cent to 9,463.46 points; banking decreased by 1.27 per cent to 1,238.19 points; finance lost 1.09 per cent to 1,637.42 points; nonlife insurance fell 0.53 per cent to 8,721.171 points; development banks dipped by 0.30 per cent to 3,529.96 points; and hydropower shed 0.02 points to 2,549.98.
At the other end of the spectrum, trading led the pack of gainers after increasing by 1.37 per cent to 2,130.75 points; hotels and tourism edged up by 0.52 per cent to 3,069.23; investment rose by 0.23 per cent to 64.46 points; and others gained 0.20 per cent to 1,424.37 points.
A version of this article appears in the print on March 26, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.
