Nepse falls on action against brokers

KATHMANDU, AUG 03 - As the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) prohibited a number of stockbrokers from doing business for their failure to clear transactions, the market turnover last week dropped by a massive 54.44 percent to Rs 2.04 billion. The number of shares traded also declined to 6,842,250 from 9,071,280.

“Nepse’s action against a few brokers brought down the share transaction,” said Sachin Silwal of Vision Securities.

Along with the downfall in the turnover, the Nepse index declined 7.84 points to close at 1066.09 points on Thursday. The market, which opened at 1073.93 points on Sunday, dropped points two the next two days, before recovering 3.65 points on Thursday.

Silwal said the index could have fallen due to selling pressure. “A large number of investors were booking profits last week,” he said.

Out of nine trading groups, four registered gains. Hotels’ group (up 86.32 points) was the largest gainer. It was followed by hydropower, ‘others’ and finance companies. Commercial banks (down 17.42 points) led the losers’ side comprising manufacturing, insurance companies and development banks. The sensitive index, which measures the performance of blue chips, fell 1.71 points to close at 228.42 points.

Nepal Bank topped in terms of transaction worth (Rs 197.76 million). Chilime Hydropower, NCC Bank, Civil Bank and Global IME Bank rounded out the top five. Nabil Balance Fund, with 2,202,000 units of its shares changing hands, topped in terms of the number of shares traded.

Source: The Kathmandu Post