Broad Losses Drag NEPSE Down 0.76%

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index declined by 0.76 percent, or 19.92 points, to close at 2,595.10 on Sunday, December 21. It had slipped 0.40 percent on the last trading day following three consecutive days of gains. 

Market activity, too, weakened on the first trading day of the week. Turnover slipped to Rs 4.52 billion from Rs 4.57 billion last Thursday. A total of 11,299,334 shares were traded across 70,576 transactions.

Among the traded securities, 207 declined, 43 advanced, and seven remained unchanged.

All three major sub-indices closed lower. The Sensitive Index fell by 0.43 percent, the Float Index declined by 0.75 percent, and the Sensitive Float Index dropped by 0.49 percent.

SY Panel Nepal Limited (SYPNL) led the gainers, surging 9.99 percent. It was followed by Citizens Bank Debenture 2086 (CIZBD86), which gained 9.83 percent.

Sindhu Bikash Bank Limited (SINDU) became the day’s top loser, hitting the lower circuit limit.

Swastik Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited (SWASTIK) topped the turnover chart with transactions worth Rs 130.52 million. Barahi Hydropower Public Limited (BHPL) and Sun Nepal Life Insurance Company Limited (SNLI) followed.

Of the 13 sectoral indices, only the Mutual Fund index ended in positive territory, rising by 0.19 percent. 

The Hotels and Tourism index recorded the steepest decline, down 1.63 percent, followed by Life Insurance (1.52 percent), Development Bank (1.42 percent), Finance (1.34 percent), and Trading (1.01 percent). 

Total market capitalisation fell to Rs 4,357.23 billion from Rs 4,390.69 billion on the previous trading day.