KATHMANDU, Jan 4: Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) lost 44.48 points last week after investors reacted negatively to the stock prices, particularly to those of development banks and finance companies, after the financial institutions were reported to have manipulated their financial recordings.
In four-day trading, with the government declaring a public holiday on Monday to mark Tamu Lhosar, the market opened at 2,630.71 points on Sunday and closed at 2,586.23 points on Thursday.
The secondary market opened for weekday-trading on Sunday with a decline of 21.12 points. On Tuesday too the market declined by 33.08 points. The heavy fall in the market index was attributed to the heavy decline in share prices of development banks and finance companies.
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After Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) took action against Karnali Development Bank a month ago, the development banks and finance companies are also under scrutiny of the central bank. Many of these B and C class financial institutions are found to be unveiling fake financial statements, hiding the actual figure of their bad debts and non-performing loans.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the market index inclined marginally by 5.10 points and 4.63 points, respectively. After the investors started buying shares of the B and C class financial institutions, the market witnessed nominal rise in its index.
All the 13 groups lost in their market values. The finance index fell by the largest of 5.53 percent, which was followed by trading and banking with a drop of 5.34 percent and 2.67 percent, respectively.
Among the individual companies, Prabhu Bank Limited had the biggest turnover of its shares worth Rs 758.08 billion during the review period. Support Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha lost 30.76 percent in its market value and recorded as the topmost loser. Super Madi Hydropower Limited by adding 17.41 percent of its market price was registered as the topmost gainer.
The total turnover amount was recorded at Rs 19.35 billion, a decline from Rs 19.47 billion in the previous week. The average daily turnover also declined to Rs 4.83 billion from Rs 4.86 billion.
The market capitalization decreased Rs 4.289 trillion from Rs 4.363 trillion, making investors face a loss of Rs 74 billion in their investment portfolio in the review period. In the previous week, the investors gained Rs 56 billion from shares trading.
