Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index plunged sharply on Tuesday, shedding 74.43 points to slip below the psychological 2,800-point support level.
A day after snapping a two-day losing streak with a gain of 19.70 points, the market opened in negative territory and remained under sustained selling pressure throughout the trading hours. The index eventually closed 2.62% lower at 2,776.36 points.
The index has lost 184.04 points since it hit an eight-month high of 2,960.4 points on March 24.
Market breadth was heavily negative on Wednesday as unit prices of 255 stocks declined, while 13 advanced. According to stock market investors, the persistent sell-off indicates cautious investor sentiment and continued profit-booking.
Despite Nepse’s decline, two scrips hit the positive circuit of 10%, while four others saw their prices go up by more than 9%. Himalayan Reinsurance Ltd topped the turnover chart with total transactions worth Rs 713.12 million. Api Power Company and Ngadi Group Power Ltd were next with turnovers of Rs 457.21 million and Rs 432.33 million, respectively.
Total turnover improved to Rs 12.1 billion compared to the previous session, with 30.29 million units traded through 123,730 transactions.
All trading groups ended the session in the red. The biggest loss came from the Others sub-index, which tanked 5.25%. Next were Trading and Development Bank sub-indices with losses of 3.96% and 3.18%, respectively.
