Bears still running riot in stock market

KATHMANDU, JAN 22 -

There is no sign of revival in stock market despite several measures taken by the government, central bank and securities board of Nepal (Sebon).

The pathetic situation continued last week too as the Nepal Share Market (Nepse) index lost 1.63 points to settle at 320.56 points.

On January 5, the high-level financial sector coordination committee headed by the Finance Minister had decided to implement the central depository system (CDS) from January 15, which is yet to come into effect. The committee had also decided to expand Nepse regionally by mid-April.

However, investors are likely to watch closely the performance of the heavyweights, banks and financial institutions, in the second quarter. Commercial banks had posted 27 percent fall in the first quarter profits, and bankers fear that their earnings may drop further in the second quarter too due to suppressed lending. Against this backdrop, chances of investors infusing more money into the domestic share market are slim.

However, Nepse General Manager Shankar Man Singh said as this is the time when banks pay dividends, investors may make investment.

Last week, most of the groups lost points. Commercial banks, others, hydropower, finance companies and development banks posted losses in their indices, while hotels and insurance companies were the gainers. Manufacturing sector saw no change in its index.

Of the four trading days, only a few transactions could take place on Thursday due to a hardware failure. That’s why the market turnover last week decreased by 61.42 percent to Rs 64.05 million from the preceding week’s Rs 166 million.

Last week, a total of 390,576 shares changed hands 3771 times. Of total transactions, A class companies realised Rs 26.8 million—41.85 percent of the total market turnover.

Progress Finance company recorded the highest number of shares traded (167,000) and realised the highest turnover (Rs 16.5 million) by a single company. Gurash Life Insurance Company posted the highest number of transactions.

Top five companies in terms of turnover (in Rs million)

Progressive Finance     16.53

Bank of Kathmandu    7.61

Chilime Hydropower     3.92

Nabil Bank    3.41

Nepal Investment Bank    2.88

Source: Kantipur