Nepse moderately down

The domestic stock market index fell moderately over the week due to fall in prices of bank stocks. The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index slipped 1.91 points, or 0.38 percent, over the week to close at 493.63 points on Thursday, the last trading day of the week, as stocks of leading commercial banks like Nabil, Standard Chartered, Nepal Investment and Himalayan took a dip. The slide taken by the benchmark index has been identified as a “minor hiccup” by stockbrokers as they were expecting bigger falls toward the end of the fiscal year when investors, who have purchased shares using bank credit, go on a selling spree to pay quarterly loan installments. “Investors are currently upbeat as they are expecting the annual budget to come on time. They are also hoping that the listed companies would deliver good full-year results,” Stockbroker Nanda Kishore Mundada said. “Besides, hints given by the central bank to further promote merger of banking institutions have also lifted spirits of investors as this would make listed financial institutions stronger.” Despite this optimism, the share market did feel some selling pressure over the week which dragged down stock prices of some of the leading banks and caused the banking index to slip to 486.22 points by Thursday from Sunday´s opening of 490.47. Nepse´s weekly report shows shares of Nabil Bank closing at Rs 1,741 on Thursday, down Rs 32 from Sunday´s Rs 1,773. Stocks of Standard Chartered Bank Nepal also lost Rs 15 over the week to end the week at Rs 1,795, while shares of Nepal Investment Bank shed Rs 7 over the week to close at Rs 733. Likewise, stocks of Himalayan Bank also closed Rs 2 lower at Rs 668 on Thursday. Among others, share prices of finance companies also fell moderately, which caused finance company index to close at 252.91 points Thursday, down from 254.39 points recorded on Sunday.