Nepse down due to political uncertainty

KATHMANDU, MAY 24: 

Due to the uncertain political situation at present, the stock market index plunged by 5.2 per cent in today’s trading reaching 385.66 points. The Nepse index went down by 20.42 points. 

The stock market which is becoming more and more politically influenced did not react well against the current political developments. The growing uncertainty regarding the constitution being drafted on time wiped out the optimism among investors as they chose to liquidate shares instead of waiting.

“Lately, the political situation has become the supreme influencing factor in the share market. The political uncertainty has flared up selling, pulling share prices down,” according to president of Stock Brokers Association of Nepal Anjan Raj Paudyal. 

The market that was hovering over 300 points had got injected with new life following consensus regarding the integration of combatants in mid-April. 

Due to the selling pressure, the circuit breakers came into operation interrupting trading before 3pm. “Due to the operation of all three circuit breakers, trading took place for less than one and a half hours,” pointed out Paudyal. 

Today, all of the subgroups’ indices ended up in the red except for hotels. Banking, others and hydropower took a beating with the subgroups plunging by 26.83 points, 29.37 points and 28.09 points, respectively.

Oriental Hotels whose share prices saw an appreciation of Rs 5 per unit share was the top gainer of the day. Grand Bank, Sanima Bank and Kumari Bank were the highest losers of the day with a loss of around 10 per cent in their share prices. 

Today, 89,063 unit shares belonging to 55 companies worth Rs 38.6 million were traded in 767 transactions. Market capitalisation at present is more than Rs 364 billion.

Source: THT