Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index suffered a setback on Tuesday, losing 19.43 points to close at 2,528.16 points, as turnover and investor sentiment weakened following Monday’s brief rally.
The market, which had opened on a positive note, climbed to an intra-day high of 2,553.07 points, raising hopes of a sustained recovery. However, the benchmark could not hold on to the early gains and eventually closed 0.76%, disappointing investors who had expected the uptrend to continue.
What added to the concern was a sharp decline in trading volume; the total turnover fell to Rs 3.36 billion, with 7.49 million units of shares traded through 38,827 transactions.
Unit prices of 214 scrips declined during the session, while 33 advanced and five remained unchanged. Nepal Reinsurance Company Ltd led the turnover chart with Rs 320.78 million worth of shares traded. Himalayan Reinsurance Ltd and CEDB Hydropower Development Company Ltd followed with turnovers of Rs 160.91 million and Rs 126.82 million, respectively.
Among trading groups, three sub-indices posted gains while the remaining 10 ended in the red. The Trading sub-index posted the largest gain of 1.48%, whereas the Hydropower sub-index recorded the biggest loss of 1.71%. Finance and Investment sub-indices also slipped 1.39% and 1.16%, respectively.
