Nepse tanks 105.5 points, falls below 2,700-point support level

KATHMANDU: The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index tumbled sharply on Sunday, falling 105.5 points, or 3.79%, to close trading at 2,676.68.

This marks the lowest level since March 1, when the index closed at 2,673.97 points.

The market opened in the red and continued to to remain in the neagative territory throughout the session. The broad-based selloff saw unit prices of 261 stocks decline, while only seven advanced. This reflects weak investor sentiment across the board despite the formation of a new government with nearly two-thirds majority.

Sunday’s drop marks the biggest intra-day loss since September 18, when the index had plunged 160.33 points, or 6%, triggering multiple circuit breakers.

Despite the sharp fall, trading activity surged, with total turnover rising to Rs 12.38 billion, up from Rs 8.81 billion in the previous session. A total of 31.2 million units were traded through 141,036 transactions on Sunday.

Four stocks bucked the market trend as their prices hit the 10% positive circuit of 10%. Two others saw their share prices go up by 9.99%. Likewise, three scrips hit the negative circuit of 10%, while 14 others logged losses of more than 9%.

Himalayan Reinsurance Limited logged the highest turnover of the session with Rs 582.84 million worth of shares traded. Next were Shivam Cements and Ngadi Group Power Ltd with turnovers of Rs 452.59 million and Rs 420.60 million, respectively.

All trading grops ended in the red on Sunday. The biggest loss came from the Others sub-index, which went down by 6.09%. Next were the Hydropower and the Development Bank sub-indices, with losses of 4.84% and 4.32%, respectively.

Market heavyweight Banking group also closed the session 3.32% lower.