Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index tumbled 78.83 points on Sunday and closed at 2,503.35 points amid broad-based losses across all trading groups.
This is the lowest close since September 26 last year, when the bourse ended trading at 2,486.76 points.
The benchmark slipped into negative territory soon after trading opened on Sunday. Despite a brief rebound attempt after touching an intra-day low of 2,493.72 points, it failed to sustain the recovery and eventually closed the session 3.05% lower. The index is close to breaching the psychological 2,500-point threshold.
While the index declined sharply, overall market activity picked up. Total turnover rose to Rs 6.70 billion, with 14.36 million shares traded through 67,202 transactions.
Nepal Reinsurance Company Ltd recorded the highest turnover of the session at Rs 380.74 million. NLG Insurance Company Ltd and Union Hydropower Ltd were next with turnovers of Rs 371.70 million and Rs 363.34 million, respectively.
All sectoral indices ended the day in the red. The Hotels & Tourism sub-index suffered the steepest decline, plunging 4.84%, while the Others and Hydropower sub-indices were down 4.79% and 3.79%, respectively. The market heavyweight Banking sub-index also slipped 2.3%, contributing significantly to the day’s market downturn.
