Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: The stock market experienced a mild correction on Wednesday as profit-taking erased early gains, causing the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index to decline by 5.17 points to close at 2,566.16.
Nepse had logged a gain of 84.17 points over the past three days.
The benchmark breached the 2,600-point psychological level within the first hour of trading, fueling optimism that Tuesday’s rally might extend. However, sustained selling pressure in the latter half dragged the index back into negative territory, with the benchmark ultimately settling in the red.
Despite the modest decline of 0.2%, market activity remained robust. Total turnover improved to Rs 5.45 billion, with 11.5 million shares traded across 50,487 transactions.
Unit prices of 159 scrips declined during the session, while 85 advanced, and six remained unchanged. Union Hydropower Ltd topped the turnover chart with Rs 236.52 million, followed closely by NRN Infrastructure & Development and Butwal Power Company Ltd with turnovers of Rs 231.92 million and Rs 227.21 million, respectively.
Among sectoral indices, four posted gains while nine ended in the red. The Others sub-index led the losses with a 1.2% drop. Meanwhile, Hotels & Tourism emerged as the day’s outperformer, climbing 2.15%, buoyed by renewed optimism in travel-related stocks. The Trading sub-index also gained 2%.
Analysts said the day’s pullback reflects a healthy pause after a strong rally, as investors lock in short-term profits while assessing whether the index can sustain levels above 2,600.
