KATHMANDU: Sunday saw a sharp decline in the Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index, which ended the day at 2,894.57 after dropping 79.88 points, or 2.68%. In addition to the benchmark index, other indexes that experienced declines were the Sensitive Index (which measures class 'A' stocks) by 2.72% and the Float Index (which reflects actively traded shares) by 2.69%. Except for the microfinance sector, which saw a rise of 1.08%, every market sector saw losses. The investment industry saw the largest fall, at 3.83%, followed by the finance, banking, and hydropower sectors, at 3.55%, 3.50%, and 3.04%, respectively.
Despite the overall negative sentiment in the market, 59 firms reported rising stock prices compared to 185 that reported declining prices. The top gainers were Upakar Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited (ULBSL), Aatmanirbhar Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited (ANLB), and Wean Nepal Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited (WNLB), all of which saw 10% rises in share value.
With 2,278,78 units of its shares traded and a total turnover of Rs 846,817,347.40 through 7,514 transactions, API Power Company Ltd (API) led the market in terms of turnover, volume, and transactions. The day's total market turnover was Rs 19.7 billion, with 42,686,640 shares exchanged in 218,578 transactions across 333 companies. The market capitalization at the close of trading was Rs 4.597 trillion.
