KATHMANDU, July 20: Despite opening the day almost 4 percent higher after pre-opening session, the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) benchmark index failed to sustain the early gain towards the closing hours. The index hit the first upper circuit limit of 4 percent within a couple of minutes of trading, triggering a trading break of 20 minutes. After resumption of the trading, the index hit its subsequent upper limit of 5 percent and forced another trading halt.