The benchmark index, which opened at 541.10 points on Monday, surrendered 7.51 points, or 1.39 percent, over the week to close at 533.59 points on Thursday as most of the sub indices fell modestly.[break]
Banking stocks were biggest drag in the week, as shares of Standard Chartered Bank Nepal, Nabil Bank, Everest Bank, Himalayan Bank and Nepal Investment Bank took a beating. This led to a fall of 10.94 points in the banking index to 525.91 points over the week. Other indices, except insurance, trade and manufacturing, also retreated during the week.
“We were anticipating this correction as the market was moving uphill continuously for the last few weeks,” Stockbroker Nanda Kishore Mundada told Republica, calling the latest fall “a normal phenomenon as investors who had bought shares at lower prices had dumped them after their value went up.”
As the benchmark index fell due to profit booking, total transaction amount on the domestic bourse also dropped by 39.84 percent over the week to Rs 442.52 million, Nepse´s weekly report shows.
Of the companies whose shares were highly traded on the market, Bank of Kathmandu topped the weekly list with share transaction amount standing at Rs 52.74 million. Second on the weekly league table was Nepal Bangladesh Bank, which recorded a share transaction worth Rs 36.58 million. Everest Bank was next in the list with total weekly share trading amount standing at Rs 29.35 million.
Close on the heels of Everest were Nabil Bank and Chilime Hydropower Company, which registered share transaction amount of Rs 26.12 million and Rs 25.61 million, respectively.
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