STOCK MARKET UPDATE: Nepse index dips

Kathmandu, August 13:

Following a continuous growth for couple of weeks, share trading at the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) this week tumbled due to a huge losses incurred by the commercial banks and the development banks groups. The Nepse index declined by 4.40 points this week. According to figures released by the Nepse, the index opened at 305.20 points on Sunday, and closed at 300.80 points on Thursday, the last day for share transactions under the regular lot. Share trading had recorded a remarkable growth of over nine points last week. Commercial banks along with the development banks group faced a major setback as both the leading groups suffered a huge loss. However, the manufacturing, hotel, trading, other and the finance groups posted a growth in their respective indices. The total weekly transaction value also decreased this week and stood at Rs 41,132,028 from 3,272 transactions of 122,662 share units. Last week’s total trading value was of Rs 59,233,858 through 2,273 transactions of 182,224 shares.

Of the listed 72 companies for share trading, 65 companies saw their transaction this week. The commercial banks group, the largest scrip by volume at the Nepse floor suffered a loss of 7.98 points. The group, which had gained more than 13 points last week, opened at 335.67 points and declined to close at 327.69 points on the closing day. The development banks group suffered a massive loss of about 27 points, which is one of the biggest losses recorded in recent time. The group’s Nepse index opened at 250.77 points on Sunday and plunged to settle at 224.13 points on the closing day. The insurance group’s index also closed at 322.42 points on Thursday from the opening of 223.17 points on Sunday. Despite the manufacturing group and the other group having registered a healthy growth of 4.20 points and 9.53 points respectively, the overall index couldn’t improve this week.

Earlier these two groups opened at 278.41 points and 325.56 points and went up to close at 282.61 points and 335.09 points, respectively. The hotel and the trading groups are also gainers, as their indices went up to close at 180.11 points and 126.91 points on the closing day. Earlier the groups had opened at 179.54 points and 123.20 points respectively. The finance group also posted a marginal growth, as its index climbed up to 230.53 points from the opening of 230.10 points on Sunday. Of the eight groups, the commercial banks’ group continued its domination by capturing the largest chunk of shares at the Nepse. It captured 81.57 per cent of the total share. The finance group came in behind, accounting for 11.37 per cent. The insurance group had 4.69 per cent, while the development bank group contributed 1.28 per cent. The trading group followed with a share of 0.61 per cent and the other group cornered a 0.29 per cent, while the manufacturing group had 0.17 per cent and the hotel group had a mere 0.02 per cent.

World Merchant Banking & Finance topped companies in terms of number of transactions with 1,415 transactions this week. Laxmi Bank Ltd came ahead in terms of the number of shares traded for the week. A total of 18,090 shares of the bank were traded this week. But, Nabil Bank stood first in terms of monetary value at Rs 5,731,062. The Nepse floor remained open for five working days, where the shares of Nabil Bank Ltd, Himalayan Bank Ltd, Nepal Bangladesh Bank, Everest Bank Ltd, NIC Bank Ltd, Machhapuchre Bank Ltd, Kumari Bank Ltd, Lumbini Bank Ltd, NCC Bank Ltd, Life Insurance Company and Nepal Development Bank were traded.