Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index shed a marginal 1.66 points on Thursday, the last trading day of the week, to close at 2,607.27 points.
The benchmark index briefly entered positive territory after early losses, touching an intraday high of 2,611.68 points. However, the rebound proved short-lived, and the market eventually drifted back into negative territory by the close. Nepse also came close to slipping below the psychological support level of 2,600 points on four occasions during the session, but managed to recover each time.
Market breadth remained negative as unit prices of 149 scrips declined on Thursday, while 98 gained and 11 remained unchanged.
Ngadi Group Power Ltd recorded the highest turnover of Rs 189.71 million. Shreenagar Agritech Industries and Sagar Distillery were next with turnovers of Rs 123.51 million and Rs 96.57 million, respectively.
Total turnover fell to Rs 3.49 billion during the session, while the total traded shares declined to 7.76 million, and total transactions dropped to 69,729.
Sectoral performance was mixed. Five sectoral indices closed in the green, while eight ended lower. Manufacturing & Processing led the gainers with a rise of 0.92%, whereas the Finance sub-index posted the sharpest decline of 0.65%.
