NEPSE Shows Faulty Data; Online Trading Obstructed

Things are messed up in NEPSE's online trading system today. The market movement was fairly normal after the index opened at 11 am. However, the NEPSE index shows a massive 86.72 points loss now. This means that the index is down 3.35% from yesterday's closing.

However, there is no way this can be real. It is apparent that investors are not able to place any trade via the NEPSE's online trading portal, also called the TMS. Furthermore, NIFRA has an LTP of Rs. 0, which is nonsensical. NIFRA's loss is unnatural and bogus, and it is in part responsible for the erroneous index data shown.

NEPSE has not published any notice to investors on its official website. NEPSE's spokesperson Murahari Parajuli did not pick up his call. After a few unreceived calls, his contact is now unreachable. These incidents have happened countless times in the past, from Meroshare not loading during application time to NEPSE misrepresenting data. This speaks volumes about how careful Nepal's only stock exchange is on matters like this. 

Since the stock exchange deals with a humongous amount of financial information, such errors are extremely critical and may prove fatal. These events can instil fear and uncertainty among investors, which has the potential to artificially alter investor sentiment.

With the entry of a significant volume of new investors, the stock market of Nepal is destined to reach great heights and maturity. However, while the investors seem ready to embrace a positive change with time, the exchange does not.