StanChart Drags Nepse Down

As expected the books closure of Standard Chartered Bank Nepal Ltd -- one of the key players in the domestic secondary market -- dragged Nepse down this week to 604.37 points from its earlier closing of 630.55 points before Dashain holiday.

However, the transaction amount this week increased by 12.10 per cent to Rs 280.73 million against a decrease of 42.84 per cent a week earlier. This week, 90 companies saw their scrips traded in the five-day session. Standard Chartered Bank Nepal topped the chart in terms of transaction amount as its shares were traded at Rs 52.63 million. Nepal Bangladesh Bank followed with Rs 47.68 million, Kist Bank (with Rs 17.11 million), Nepal SBI Bank (with Rs 16.91 million) and Bank of Kathmandu (with Rs 12.07 million) managed to come in the top five slots, respectively.

In terms of number of share units traded, Nepal Bangladesh Bank topped the chart with 1,65,000-unit of the bank's shares changing hands while in terms of number of transactions Pashupati Development Bank topped the chart with 546 transactions.

The Group-A companies' contribution decreased to 53.75 per cent to Rs 150.9 million against 60.42 per cent before the festival while the 78-scrip sensitive index -- a barometer of Group-A companies -- lost 9.37 points to drop to 152.53 points from the earlier closing of 161.80 points.

The float index -- calculated on the basis of real transactions -- also dropped by 2.13 points to 57.84 points from the earlier closing of 59.97 points.

Commercial banks -- a key player in the secondary market -- plunged to 588.96 points to pull Nepse down. The Nepse hovered around the 600-point mark as investors have not regained confidence yet and the supply of shares also has been increasing in the sole secondary market.

This week, over 1.91 million-unit of ordinary, rights and bonus shares offinancial institutions and a bank were added in the market.