Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) extended its losing streak to a third straight session on Wednesday, slipping by a nominal 2.95 points to close at 2,804.17 points.
The benchmark index witnessed sharp volatility during the day. It fell steeply in early trading and remained below the psychological support level of 2,800 points for much of the session. After hitting an intraday low of around 2,762.97 points, the market showed some recovery, and a late buying spree toward the close helped the index recover and settle just above the key threshold.
Unit prices of 138 stocks declined during the session, while 121 posted gains and 10 remained unchanged.
Despite the marginal drop in the benchmark index, trading activity strengthened notably. Total turnover rose to Rs 7.81 billion, up from Rs 5.77 billion in the previous session. A total of 17.58 million shares were traded through 121,433 transactions on Wednesday.
National Hydropower Company Ltd topped the turnover chart with Rs 413.47 million worth of shares traded. Next were Reliance Spinning Mills Ltd and Solu Hydropower Ltd with turnovers of Rs 327.86 million and Rs 316.94 million, respectively.
Among sectoral indices, five posted gains and the remaining eight ended the session in the red. Finance sub-index posted the biggest gain of 0.58%, while Hotels & Tourism sub-index suffered the biggest loss of 2.36%.
