KATHMANDU, Feb 13: Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) on Tuesday nosedived 30.56 points with investors expressing a negative response towards revised monetary policy 2023/24 unveiled on Monday.
According to stockbrokers, investors were disappointed with Nepal Rastra Bank’s mid-term review of the monetary policy. “The central bank introduced very few measures to address the issues of the stock exchange market at a time when banks are overwhelmed with the loanable funds while their credit flow is also dismal,” said a stockbroker.
In the intraday trading on Tuesday, the market opened at 2,101.16 points and lost 1.45 percent to close at 2,070.59 points. Just a few minutes after the start of trading, the market plunged around 21 points.
Revised interest rate corridor system introduced
In the next 10 minutes, the market added around 11 points. The market hovered between 2,084 points and 2,074 points for the next three hours. The index plunged to the day’s low at 2,065.83 points in the last two minutes.
The sensitive index that measures the performance of ‘A’ class companies declined 5.99 points. The daily turnover increased to Rs 4.67 billion from Rs 3.58 billion on Monday.
All the 13 trading groups had their indices declined in the intraday trading. Non-life insurance shed 197.97 points, followed by life insurance with a fall of 187.73 points and hotels and tourism with a fall of 98.79 points.
Among individual companies, only 40 were recorded as gainers whereas 203 were the losers.
Himalayan Reinsurance Limited with transactions of its shares worth Rs 325.04 million continued to lead the segment. Gurans Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited lost the highest of 9.70 percent, while Bottlers Nepal (Balaju) Limited was recorded as the top gainer.
