Nepse fell 32.92 points while investors lost Rs 18 billion from stock exchange last week

Published On: August 19, 2023 06:56 PM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

KATHMANDU, Aug 19: Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) declined 32.92 points last week after banks stepped up to raise interest rates.

The secondary market opened at 2,066.05 points on Sunday while it closed at 2,033.13 points on Thursday. During the period, the index went as high as 2,093.81 points and as low as 2,014.34 points, taking the market to the volatility of 79.47 points.

According to stockbrokers, the market was largely affected by a number of banks raising their interest on their deposit collections. Despite having excessive liquidity with them, banks have fallen in unhealthy competition, affecting the market interest rates.

In five days of trading, the index started the week by adding 14.81 points on Sunday. The market however failed to retain its charm for the investors, taking down the market index in the consecutive three days.

Along with a fall in the market index, the total turnover amount also declined to Rs 10.488 billion from Rs 10.802 billion in the previous week. This shows that the transaction volume dropped 2.91 percent.

The average daily turnover amount also fell to Rs 2.097 billion from Rs 2.16 billion during the review period.

Three out of 13 trading groups were successful in adding values in their market prices. Mutual funds gained the largest of 27.82 percent in their market prices. Similarly, hotels and tourism, and banking groups were among the gainers.

Manufacturing and processing shed 299.55 points and topped in terms of losers. Likewise, life insurance and hydropower also lost 163.49 points and 100.79 points, respectively.

Among individual companies, Soaltee Hotel Limited held the biggest turnover of its shares worth Rs 526.76 million. Swet-Ganga Hydropower and Construction Limited lost the highest of 14.66 percent. Emerging Nepal Limited earned the highest 13.18 percent in its share price.

The market capitalization further shrunk to Rs 3.043 trillion from Rs 3.061 trillion during the review period. As a result, the investors lost Rs 18 billion from their investment portfolio in the share market. In the previous week, investors had lost Rs 10 billion in total from their share transactions.