Nepse index continues to slide

KATHMANDU:

The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index plummeted by 25.22 points or 2.6 per cent to rest at 942.4 points, from March 22 to 26. Apart from the normal cyclical trend, traders say the new loan-loss provisioning regulation of Nepal Rastra Bank may also have created some confusion and weighed on investor sentiment.

Starting the week at 967.62 points on Sunday, the benchmark index shed 3.5 points by the day’s closing. The local bourse was southward bound throughout

the trading week, declining steadily by 7.53 points, 2.75 points, 2.55 points and 8.89 points on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. The last time Nepse had closed at the

current level was on January 18, when it had rested at 945.36 points.

In the week, altogether 2.54 million units of shares of 165 companies worth Rs 1.05 billion were traded in the country’s only secondary market through 7,045 transactions. The traded amount was 23.52 per cent higher than the preceding week when 2.17 million units of scrips of 171 firms worth Rs 852.37 million were traded through 7,108 deals.

The sensitive index, which gauges the performance of class ‘A’ stocks, dropped by 5.56 points to 200.19 points. The float index that measures the performance of shares actually traded also declined by 1.74 points to 66.43 points, in the week.

Whereas trading subgroup remained constant at 196.93 points, manufacturing was the only subgroup to record any gain. Share value of Unilever rose by Rs 100 to Rs 17,300 and of Himalayan Distillery went up by Rs 14 to Rs 710 which helped the manufacturing subgroup add 8.45 points to close at 1,464.23 points.

Same as in the previous weeks, insurance subgroup maintained its lead among the pack of losers. The sub-index declined by 99.93 points to 4,054.07 points, weighed down by scrips of National Life Insurance valued Rs 45 less at Rs 2,270, while the value of Prime Life Insurance dropped by Rs 43 to Rs 1,093, among others.Hotels, which had managed to inch up by 2.89 points in the previous trading week, slumped by 97.05 points to 1,927.64 points

this time around. Soaltee’s shares settled at Rs 433, down Rs 27, while of Oriental closed at Rs 714, less Rs 21 compared to the previous week.

The sub-index of hydropower declined by 63.04 points to 2,168.04 points, pulled down by Chilime’s shares losing Rs 50 to end at Rs 1,580, and of Sanima Mai dipping by Rs 20 to Rs 730.

Adding to the previous week’s loss of 12.92 points, the others subgroup retreated by 36.42 points to 706.08 points, as the share value of Nepal Telecom went down by Rs 31 to Rs 601.

Banking subgroup, which has the highest stake in market capitalisation in the country’s sole share market, recorded a loss of 20.86 points to settle at 822.01 points. Nabil’s shares closed at Rs 1,870 (down Rs 55), Standard Chartered’s at Rs 1,930 (less Rs 30), and Nepal Investment at Rs 709 (down Rs 16), among others.

Not too far behind, development banks too descended by 18.83 points to 797.1 points. Scrips of Nagbeli Laghubitta Bikas Bank lost Rs 81 to close at Rs 1,819, while of Chhimek Laghubitta Bikas Bank went down by Rs 90 to Rs 1,560.Finance was the lone subgroup that managed to limit its loss to single digit, shedding 3.75 points to end the week at 535.44 points. Synergy Finance’s share value went down by five rupees to Rs 101, while that of Goodwill Finance dipped by four rupees to Rs 222.

Nepal Life Insurance secured first position among companies with highest turnover in the week with Rs 71.58 million. Global IME Bank (Promoter Share) with Rs 66.08 million, Everest Insurance with Rs 54.14 million, Prabhu Bank with Rs 49.39 million and Chilime Hydropower with Rs 46.74 million rounded up the top five positions in this category.

Global IME Bank (Promoter Share) topped the list in terms of number of shares traded, with 264,000 of its scrips changing hands. Similarly, Global IME Bank was the forerunner in number of transactions, clocking 268 deals.

New listings

Firm Type Units

Laxmi Bank Bonus 3,895,638

Lumbini Bank Bonus 1,132,547

NLG Insurance Co Bonus 445,500

Source: THT