Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index extended its losing run for the third straight session on Thursday, falling by 18.4 points to close at 2,487.17 points—the last trading day of the week.
With this decline, the benchmark slipped below the psychological 2,500-point level for the first time since September 29 last year, when it had closed at 2,464.40 points.
Despite starting the session on a positive note and briefly raising hopes of a rebound, the market failed to sustain its gains and eventually closed the session 0.73 percent lower.
The benchmark has shed 95.01 points this week.
During Thursday’s session, unit prices of 197 scrips declined, while 45 advanced and nine remained unchanged. Muktinath Bikas Bank topped the turnover chart with Rs 153.09 million worth of shares traded. It was followed by Nepal Reinsurance Company Ltd and Shivam Cements with turnovers of Rs 130.46 million and Rs 112.87 million, respectively.
Overall market turnover improved slightly to Rs 3.27 billion, with 7.64 million units traded through 36,531 transactions.
All sub-indices except Banking and Mutual Fund ended in negative territory on Thursday. The Others sub-index suffered the biggest drop of 2.21%. Finance and Development Bank sub-indices followed with losses of 1.2% and 1.15%, respectively.
