Rupee weakens, gold rises, NEPSE slips

KATHMANDU, March 7: Nepali currency vis-à-vis US dollar weakened over the week, as the greenback appreciated against the Indian rupee. Nepali currency is pegged with Indian rupee. While the appreciation of dollar caused the price of gold to inch up marginally in the domestic market, NEPSE, recorded a drop of more than 5 points over the week. [break]

Currency

Partially convertible Nepali rupee weakened by Rs 1.62 vis-à-vis US dollar this week, as the greenback strengthened against the Indian rupee.

Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the central bank, had fixed the selling rate of one US dollar at Rs 81.68 on Sunday. While it soared to a record high of Rs 83.40 on Wednesday, the exchange rate of US dollar marginally retracted to 83.30 on Friday.

The rupee weakened against the Euro by Rs 1.28, and closed at Rs 105.04 per euro (€) this week. It depreciated against pound sterling (£) by Rs 1.81 and closed at Rs 118.13 per pound this week. As per the existing open-market exchange rate policy, rates quoted by different banks could differ.

Bullion

Gold price gained Rs 5 per gram over the week, and was traded at Rs 25,000 per 10 grams in the local market Friday. Bullion dealers attributed the rise in gold price to the appreciation of dollar against the major rival currencies in the wake of the announcement of new relief package by the US president.

The market had opened at Rs 24,950 per 10 grams on Sunday. It continued to slide through the week, landing at Rs 24,680 per 10 grams on Thursday, before gaining Rs 320 per 10 grams overnight on Friday.

Likewise, the price of silver also went up to 353 per 10 grams from Rs 350 this week.

Stock Market

Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) shed 5.62 points as the country’s sole secondary market failed to lure investors amid bearish outlook.

According to NEPSE statement, the market had opened at 676.30 points on Sunday. Although it gained 0.40 points on Monday, the index soon spiraled downwards over the remaining trading days and closed at 670.68 points on Friday.

During the week, 415,100 units of shares were traded at NEPSE floor, raising the volume of transactions to Rs 281.48 million, which is 15 percent rise than last week. Over 276,820 units of shares were traded last week.

Of the total transactions, transactions of Category A companies’ shares alone had touch Rs 188.10 million, which was 66.83 percent of the total turnover.

This week commercial banks gained 1.41 points, development banks 10.98 points and finance group 1.96 points.

Insurance group lost 12.40 points over the week, while other groups also saw 31.72 points decline in its group index. Indices of trading, manufacturing and hotels group remained unchanged throughout the week.