NEPSE declined 33.74 points while investors lost Rs 54 billion from stocks trading last week

Published On: March 2, 2024 05:50 PM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

KATHMANDU, March 2: Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) lost 33.74 points last week, after a number of banks were reported to have fallen into controversies for their involvement in financial misconducts.

After the central bank unveiled its mid-term review of monetary policy and the government announced the reduced budget size through the mid-term review, the market has dropped over 110 points in the past three weeks. Last week, the market was affected adversely with the issues related to commercial banks that hold heavy weight in the market transaction. The banking sub-index plunged 2.52 percent.

The market opened at 2,005.83 points on Sunday and closed at 1,972.09 points on Thursday. During the review period, the market went as high as 2,011.64 points while it plunged to as low as 1,970.42 points, witnessing volatility of 41.22 points.

The market, with a heavy fall of 26.81 points on Sunday, started the week at a negative note. The index inclined 13.28 points and 9.34 points, respectively, on the successive two days. On Wednesday and Thursday, the market again dipped 0.87 points and 28.68 points, respectively.

The total turnover amount declined to Rs 11.608 billion from Rs 16.18 billion in the previous week. The average daily turnover also decreased to Rs 2.32 billion from Rs 4.04 billion.

Only the manufacturing, processing, and trading group added 703.76 points and 112.61 points, respectively, in their market values. Out of the 11 losers, life insurance plunged the highest of 213.32 points, while development bank, hotels and tourism and hydropower declined with three digit-points.

Among the individual companies, Sonapur Minerals and Oil Limited had the largest trading volume of its shares worth Rs 522.57 million. Samaj Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited lost the highest of 20.93 percent of its market value. Similarly, Bottlers Nepal Limited (Balaju) had its market price increased 61.05 percent and topped among the gainers.

The market capitalization further declined to Rs 3.099 trillion from Rs 3.153 trillion in the previous week. It made the shares investors lose Rs 54 billion in their portfolios. In the last three weeks, the investors lost Rs 196 billion from the shares trading.