KATHMANDU, March 13: The local stock market faced a sharp slide in the morning session on the Thursday with the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index giving up over 25 points in the first 20 minutes of trading. Some strength preceded as bulls tried to gain control thereafter. Nonetheless, the market failed to trade in green and witnessed a steady slide after midday. The benchmark index eventually shed a total of 45.91 points to close the week at 1,377.18 points.