Nepse ends week 6.43 points down

NEPAL Stock Exchange (Nepse) slipped 6.43 points last week to settle at 488.55 points on Thursday. The market had opened at 494.98 points on Sunday. The fall in the Nepse index has been attributed to banks and financial institutions’ (BFIs) reluctance to provide margin loans towards the end of the fiscal year. “With the fiscal year approaching end, BFIs are more focusing on loan recovery,” said Narendra Raj Sijapati, president of Nepal Stockbrokers’ Association. Sijapati said the slump in the benchmark index is also due to investors’ diversion to initial public offerings issued recently by various companies, including Mega Bank. “Besides, the issuance of Nepal Bank’s rights shares also affected the capital market to some extent,” he said. Nepal Bank, however, has limited shareholders. A majority of the groups on the exchange posted losses. Commercial Banks, with a downfall of 8.92 points, was last week’s biggest loser. It was followed by ‘Others’, Insurance Companies, Hotels, Development Banks and Finance Companies. Only two groups— hydropower companies and manufacturing—registered gains. Trading group’s index remained constant at 173.77 points. Sijapati expressed hope that the market would improve with the beginning of the new fiscal year. The sensitive index that measures transactions of ‘A’ category companies fell by 2.09 points to close at 121.70 points. Everest Bank posted the highest transaction amount (Rs 103.02 million). Bank of Kathmandu, Standard Chartered Bank Nepal, Chilime Hydropower Company and Nepal Investment Bank were among the top five companies in terms of transaction amount. Nabil Balance Fund topped in terms of the highest number of shares traded—379,201 units. The market turnover posted a 33.38 percent growth last week to reach Rs 392.7 million from the transaction of 1,587,650 units of shares. Last week’s figure was Rs 294.4 million. ‘A’ category companies witnessed a turnover of Rs 253.04 million—64.42 percent of the total transaction. The capital market listed 561,600 bonus shares of Prime Life Insurance. The fall in the Nepse index has been attributed to banks and financial institutions' reluctance to provide margin loans towards the end of the fiscal year