NEPSE drops over 5 points on poor growth projection

Kathmandu November 22- The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) shrinked 5.52 points to close at 1,094.57 points last week.

The secondary market that opened at 1,100.09 on Sunday fell 5.91 points on Monday. The index surged 5.07 points on Wednesday before going down by 4.68 on Thursday.

The ongoing Tarai protest and unofficial blockade imposed by India, the Nepal Rastra Bank’s projection that the country’s economic growth could be as low as three decades ago, has affected the stock market. Of the nine trading groups, indices of five witnessed a downswing. Insurance companies were the biggest losers, shedding 44.75 points, followed by hydropower, hotels, commercial banks and finance companies.  

Indices of three groups, including manufacturing, ‘others’ and development banks went up. Manufacturing underwent the biggest increase of 12.98 points. The index of ‘trading’ group remained stable at 207.97 points throughout the weekdays.  Similarly, the sensitive index that measures the performance of blue chips companies also fell 1.08 points to close at 236.26 points.
There was transaction worth Rs758.2 million through the trading of 1,587,390 shares.  

Regarding the individual companies, Everest Bank led in terms of the transaction volume. The secondary market witnessed a transaction worth Rs41.8 million of the company’s shares. Shares of Business Universal Development Bank changed hands the most over the week, with the trading of 156,000 shares.

Meanwhile, NEPSE listed 1,418,447 units right shares of Chhimek Laghubitta Bikas Bank and 7,013,606 units right shares of Laxmi Bank.

TOP FIVE COMPANIES IN TERMS OF TURNOVER
Company                                                Turnover (in Rs millions)
Everest Bank                                           48.18
Business Universal Development Bank    40.46
Citizens Bank International                     33.76
Nepal Life Insurance                               31.87
Sana Kisan Bikas Bank                           29.02

Sector/s that went up
Sector                          Points Gained
Manufacturing             12.98
Others                           9.4
Development Banks     1.65

SECTORS THAT WENT DOWN
Sector                              Points Gained
Insurance Companies       44.75
Hydropower Companies    19.75
Hotels                               17.03
Commercial Banks              8.33
Finance Companies           0.32