Nepse slips below 2,600-point level

KATHMANDU: The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index has slipped below the critical psychological support level of 2,600 points. The benchmark index closed the session 19.92 points lower at 2,595.10 points on Sunday, the first trading day of the week.

This marked the second straight double-digit loss in the stock market. In the previous session, the Nepse index had shed 10.66 points.

The index entered negative territory immediately after the trading began. Although the index made several recovery attempts throughout the session, persistent selling pressure prevented a rebound. The market eventually closed 0.76% lower.

Out of the total scrips traded, the unit prices of 207 companies declined, while only 43 managed to advance, and seven remained unchanged. The total turnover fell slightly to Rs 4.52 billion compared to the previous session. A total of 11.29 million units were traded through 70,576 individual transactions on Sunday.

Swastik Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha topped the turnover chart with Rs 130.52 million worth of shares traded. Barahi Hydropower Ltd and Sun Nepal Life Insurance Company Ltd followed with turnovers of Rs 119.07 million and Rs 114.05 million, respectively.

Almost all trading groups ended in negative territory on Sunday. The Mutual Fund sub-index, which logged a negligible gain of 0.19%, was the only exception. The Hotels & Tourism sub-index suffered the highest loss of 1.63%. The Life Insurance and Development Bank sub-indices were next with losses of 1.52% and 1.42%, respectively.