KATHMANDU: Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index shed 0.2 percent, falling by 5.59 points and closing at 2815.06 points on Tuesday amid a volatile market this week. The index lost nearly 100 points and closed at 2,820 yesterday.
As trading opened Tuesday, NEPSE index gained at first and made it to 2,827 points. However, the market fell sharply and made an intraday low of 2781 points in the next 15 minutes of the day’s first trading hour.
As normal trading day resumed, the index fluctuated up and down, setting an intraday high of 2857 points at 1 pm. After setting the day’s high, the market caught a downhill train and finally stopped at 2815.06 points at 3 pm.
Today showed an overall fluctuation of 76 points with a shedding of nearly 6 points from yesterday’s close. This indicates the market might continue riding the downhill train on Wednesday as well. After witnessing massive gains in the past two weeks, NEPSE has been pursuing a downward trend since the first trading day of the week– Sunday.
The market, which had declined by 11 points on Sunday, declined by 100 points on Monday and showed a modest decline on Tuesday. If the market does not rise in the coming days, chances are high that the stock market might trail the recent new low of 2,280 points.
Investors’ volatile sentiment, strategies for churning out profits off NEPSE, liquidity crisis in the Banks and Financial Institutions (BFIs), political talks such as stall or postpone elections at local levels, and weaker financial statements of listed companies have contributed to the market downturn of late.
As the mid-year review of this fiscal’s monetary policy approaches, talk in the investors’ circle is also that some big investors are driving the market down to get the authorities to relax some of the previously imposed noose-tightening directives on financial and securities sector.
The total turnover also sharply plummeted to just Rs 5.39 billion today against yesterday’s Rs 8.84 billion.
102 companies along with debentures and mutual funds helped to decrease the NEPSE index Tuesday. Gurkhas Finance lost the most 4.58 percent today as buyers tried to lift 69 companies. Among them, the share price of WEAN Microfinance rose by 10 percent and the share price of Buddhabhumi Nepal Hydropower also gained nearly 10 percent.
Hydropower companies and insurance companies have been popular buy stocks on Tuesday, with Asian Life Insurance making the highest turnover of Rs 269.4 million followed by Api Power Company at Rs 228.2 million.
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