Kathmandu, May 12

The first day of trading resumption in the country’s sole secondary market after a 50-day hiatus provided little cheer for share investors today, as the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index plunged by 2.02 per cent or 25.30 points to 1,226.15 points by 12:24 pm, resulting in trading being suspended for the day.

Only 106,412 shares of 87 companies changed hands through 292 transactions that amounted to merely Rs 104.50 million today, in a trading session that was mired by technical glitches that further weighed on the investor sentiment.

Consequently, the benchmark index continuously fell throughout the trading period today.

Nepse resumed trading from today as per the direction of the Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON).

However, trading has been limited to just two hours per day from 11:00am to 1:00pm for the time being. Moreover, the daily movement limit for the listed firms has been capped at three per cent and for the benchmark index at two per cent.

Radha Pokharel, chairperson of Nepal Pujibazar Laganikarta Sangh, said that since most investors are in a wait-and-watch mode and banks and financial institutions are also not fully functional, the market remained southbound.

“The coronavirus pandemic has largely affected the economy which was reflected in the Nepse today.”

In line with Nepse, sensitive index also plunged by 1.99 per cent or 5.39 points to 265.67 points, while float index slumped by 2.06 per cent or 1.82 points to 86.74 points.

Stockholders of insurance companies were the biggest losers today. Non-life insurance took a steep dive of 7.46 per cent or 524.73 points to 6,508.07 points and life insurance subgroup plunged 7.45 per cent or 690.31 points to 8,576.39 points.

All the subgroups, except trading, landed in the red zone. The trading sub-index did not record any transaction today.

None of the listed companies witnessed any gain today, while the share value of Himalayan Bank took the biggest dive of three per cent to close at Rs 485.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on May 12, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.