Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index reversed the modest gain recorded in the previous session and slipped back into negative territory on Monday.
The benchmark index declined by 13.17 points to close trading at 2,825.23, reflecting broad-based selling pressure across the market. Although the index moved into the green during early trading, hitting an intraday high of 2,845.98 points, it slipped into the red and logged an intraday low of 2,813.54 points. The index recovered some losses as the session progressed, but eventually closed the session 0.46% lower.
Despite some pockets of gains, the overall market trend remained bearish, with declining stocks outnumbering advancers. Unit prices of 197 scrips declined during the session, while 65 advanced and six remained unchanged.
Market activity also weakened notably as total turnover declined to Rs 5.43 billion compared to Rs 7.46 billion in the previous session. The total turnover fell despite the number of transactions improving to 116,310 on Monday, down from the previous session’s 95,093.
Unit prices of four scrips—Suryakunda Hydroelectric Ltd, Himalayan Forest Inn Ltd, Palpa Cement Industries Ltd, and Shikhar Power Development Company hit the 15% positive circuit on Monday.
A new rule issued by the Nepse on Friday increased the daily fluctuation limit for securities to 15% from 10%. The change came into effect from Monday itself.
Himalayan Forest Inn Ltd topped the turnover chart with Rs 360.15 million worth of shares traded. Next were Solu Hydropower Ltd and National Hydropower Company Ltd with turnovers of Rs 298.17 million and Rs 288.85 million, respectively.
Among sectoral indices, two posted gains and the remaining 11 ended the session in the red. Hotels & Tourism sub-index posted the biggest gain of 1.01%, while Banking, Investment, and Manufacturing & Processing all posted losses of 0.84% each.
