Kathmandu, September 10

The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index fell by 2.24 per cent or 34.89 points to 1,519.66 points today — the first trading of the week. The benchmark index opened at 1,554.55 points, which continuously dropped throughout the day.

Today, 1.56 million shares of 158 companies worth Rs 924.23 million were traded through 9,112 transactions. Along with the Nepse index, the sensitive and float indices also dropped today. The sensitive index came down by 2.08 per cent or 6.78 points to 319.23 points. Similarly, the float index also fell to 109.97 points, declining by 2.57 points or 2.28 per cent.

All the sub-indices were in the red today but it was due to the major fall in the stocks of sectors that are considered heavyweight in the local bourse that the market witnessed a steep decline.

The sub-index of commercial banks dropped by 2.14 per cent to 1,310.52 points. Share price of commercial banks like Nabil fell by Rs 41 to Rs 1,634 and that of Nepal Investment declined by Rs 14 to Rs 748.

The insurance sector decreased by 3.43 per cent, which was the highest movement of the day. It came down by 296.71 points to 8,361.69 points. Share price of Rastriya Beema Company descended to Rs 14,800, a decline of Rs 1,020 or 6.45 per cent.

Similarly, the sub-index of hotels fell by 2.16 per cent or 51.34 points to 2,326.72 points. The development bank group also dipped by 2.5 per cent or 49.6 points to 1,936.31 points.

Likewise, the sub-index of hydropower declined to 1,744.68 points, falling by 40.48 points or 2.27 per cent. The finance companies group also came down to 769.26 points, declining by 13.05 points or 1.67 per cent.

Meanwhile, the manufacturing sector shed 24.24 points or 0.94 per cent to rest at 2,550.15 points. The others sector also fell to 713.21 points, down by 2.89 points or 0.4 per cent.

Nirdhan Utthan Bank stood at the top of the list in terms of total turnover with Rs 107.67 million. Likewise, Samata

Microfinance topped the list of top gainers with its share price increasing by 4.92 per cent to Rs 448 and Chhimek Laghu Bitta lost the most in the day’s trading, descending by 10 per cent to Rs 1,521.

“I don’t see any fundamental reason for the decline in the market, however, I feel that investor sentiment has not been

positive as the dividends announced by the financial institutions were not up to their expectations. This could be the

reason for the decline,” said Narendra Sijapati, former chairman of Stock Brokers Association of Nepal.