Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index recorded a loss of 35.67 points to close at 1,921.24 points on Sunday, the first trading day of the week, as investors cold-shouldered a policy decision taken by the central bank to stimulate the market.
Earlier on Thursday, Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) raised the margin lending cap for individuals to Rs 150 million and institutions to Rs 200 million. Before this, the cap was Rs 120 million for both investors. The new policy, however, failed to lift the investors’ mood.
The market opened trading at 1,963.8 points and consistently lost value to eventually end the day 1.82% lower. Only 16 companies saw their share prices advance on the day, while 213 declined and four remained unchanged.
Shivam Cement logged the highest turnover of the day with Rs 67.38 million worth of shares traded. Following closely were Reliable Nepal Life Insurance and Nabil Bank Ltd with turnovers of Rs 55.76 million and Rs 53.44 million, respectively.
All trading groups posted losses on the day, with the maximum loss coming from the Hydropower sub-index, which was down by 2.72%. Hotels & Tourism and Life Insurance sub-indices were next with a loss of 2.35% and 2.28%, respectively.
Shares of 289 scrips worth Rs 1.80 billion were traded on the bourse through 59,171 transactions. Total market capitalization reached Rs 2.93 trillion on the day.
