Kathmandu [Nepal], July 8: Nepal’s stock market reversed course on Wednesday with the benchmark Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index falling 30.09 points or 1.13 percent, wiping out the gains recorded in the previous session even as trading activity picked up.
The benchmark index closed at 2,621.59 points after rising 24.57 points on Tuesday. On Monday, it had declined by 26.29 points.
Despite the market downturn, investor participation remained strong. Daily turnover climbed to Rs 4.826 billion, up from Rs 4.40 billion on Tuesday. A total of 8,463,015 shares of 362 listed companies were traded through 77,627 transactions.
The sell-off was broad-based with only 25 companies posting gains while 247 declined and five remained unchanged.
Almost every sector ended lower. Of the 13 sectoral indices, only the mutual fund sub-index edged up by 0.11 percent. Hydropower recorded the steepest decline, falling 1.70 percent followed by development banks, finance companies, hotels and tourism, commercial banks, manufacturing and processing, non-life insurance and other sectors.
The Sensitive Index, which tracks the performance of selected blue-chip stocks, fell 3.93 points or 0.85 percent, to close at 456.68 points. The float index dropped 1.13 percent while the sensitive float index declined 0.91 percent.
Among individual stocks, NMB Debenture emerged as the top gainer, rising 5.52 percent. Corporate Development Bank posted the sharpest decline of the day with its share price falling 13.41 percent.
KBL Debenture led the market in both turnover and trading volume. Shares worth Rs 623.9 million were traded during the session, with 497,041 shares changing hands. The debenture closed at Rs 1,290 per share.
