Stock market to resume trading by May 17

KATHMANDU:

Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) — the country’s only secondary market — has said that it is preparing to reopen the market by May 17. Nepse has remained closed since the last two consecutive weeks, after the devastating earthquake struck on April 25.

Nepse will soon publish a notice to inform the brokers, merchant bankers and investors regarding the date of reopening the market, as per Nepse’s General Manager Sitaram Thapaliya.

Nepse, today, held a meeting with its stakeholders, namely, brokerage companies, investors, registrar to share, merchant bankers and Central Depositary System (CDS) and Clearing Ltd.

During the meeting, the brokerage companies reportedly said that they are not prepared to resume trading as their staff members have not returned to work after the quake and offices of seven brokerage firms suffered severe damage in the quake. However, other stakeholders did not present any problems that would obstruct resumption of the services at the earliest.

Amid intense criticism over the country’s only local bourse still being closed, when most other businesses have resumed operations, Nepse said the problems facing the brokerage firms will be conveyed to the Ministry of Finance, Securities Board of Nepal and Nepal Rastra Bank.

“We’ve told them that we can’t hold off reopening the market for more than one more week because we are already under immense pressure from investors and our regulator,” Thapaliya said.

Source: THT