KATHMANDU, Jan 1: Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) observed high volatility during 2021, with the market observing a large range of fluctuations in its various indices throughout the year.
The country’s only stock exchange gained 437.23 points on overall transactions last year. On January 3, the first day trading of 2021, Nepse opened at 2,087.27 points while last Wednesday, the last day of the year, the secondary market closed at 2,524.50 points.
Nepse rides out volatility to rise 8 points
Over the period, the secondary market hit the highest of 3,227 points in August, however it could not sustain for a long time and the market successively declined to 2,255 points in December. The single day turnover amount reached as high as Rs 21.647 billion on August 15 whereas the market capitalization was also valued at Rs 4.406 trillion at its maximum on the day. After a decline in share prices, the market capitalization came down to Rs 3.567 trillion when the market closed on the last day of the year.
With growing attraction to the country’s stock exchange market, the number of demat account holders has reached around 4.7 million from mere 1.5 million in the past one year. This also shows a notable rise in mobilization of capital from the private sector.
According to a stockbroker, the market in the initial days of the year took a leap due to investors’ attraction in online trading due to lockdown and impacts of the coronavirus. “However, soaring interest rates, liquidity crunch in banking system, effects of involvement of chairpersons of regulators in insider trading and delay in reappointment to those positions all have hit the sentiment of the investors of late,” said the stockbroker on condition of anonymity.
