KATHMANDU: Stocks remained mostly unchanged in the beginning trading hour of Sunday’s session. After a small dip in the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index in the afternoon, the benchmark index pared its losses in the latter trading hours. Eventually, Nepse ended the day with a meager gain of 0.07 points at 1,112.85 points on the first trading day of the week.

The stock market lacks any charm at the current juncture amid absence of major news or events in the financial and economic fronts. The first quarter reports of commercial banks and other sectors also failed to make any significant impact in the secondary market. Hence, investors have maintained a cautious stance and refrained from trading actively as the outlook is yet to see a major improvement. Shares worth only Rs 206 million changed hands on the day.

Among sectoral indices, Life Insurance sub-index went up by 2.61%. ‘Others’, Finance, Hotels, Hydropower and Manufacturing & Processing sub-indices also inched marginally higher. On the other hand, losses mainly came from trading stocks. The group sub-index tumbled 2.87%. Mutual Fund, Development Bank, Non-Life Insurance, Microfinance and Banking sub-indices fell by 0.9%, 0.58%, 0.49%, 0.46% and 0.32% respectively.

Nabil Bank Ltd and NMB Bank Ltd topped the list of companies in terms of turnover. Over Rs 17 million worth of the shares of each company were traded on the day. Nepal Life Insurance Company Ltd and NIC Asia Bank Ltd registered transactions of Rs 14 million and Rs 12 million, respectively. National Microfinance Bittiya Sanstha Ltd, Chhimek Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd, Himalayan Distillery Ltd and Prime Commercial Bank Ltd were among other active stocks of the day. 

Nepal Life Insurance Company Ltd led other companies in terms of advances. Its share price rallied 4.73%. Next on the list was Pokhara Finance Ltd which saw its stock price rise by 4.44%. The company had announced dividend for FY2018/19 on Friday. Janautthan Samudayik Laghubitta Bikas Bank Ltd saw its share price go up by 3.39%. Life Insurance Co Ltd, Kalika Power Company Ltd, Goodwill Finance Co Ltd and Best Finance Co Ltd were saw their respective share prices go up by 2% each.

In contrast, Ghodighoda Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd was the worst performer of the session with its share price tanking 9.9%. It was followed by the Swabhimaan Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd which registered a drop of 5.28%, thanks to drop in its net profit. Salt Trading Corporation, Panchthar Power Company Ltd, Swadeshi Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd and Ngadi Group Power Company Ltd also saw their respective share prices fall by over 3%.

In corporate space, Civil Bank Ltd and Nepal Bangladesh Bank Ltd have published notices regarding their annual general meetings (AGMs). The former will be convening its AGM on December 22, while the latter’s meeting will be held on December 23. 

ARKS technical analysis suggests that the market is likely to stretch its sideways movement with another doji candlestick formation on the daily timeframe. Both buyers and sellers negated each other on the day. Technical indicators also show that the market lacks any momentum with Relative Strength Index (RSI) and Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) lines flattening. On a positive note, the support of 1,100 points has held ground where a volume backed rebound might see the market make an upward movement in the short run.

 
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