The stock market ended slightly lower on Thursday, the last trading day of the week, with NEPSE dropping 1.66 points to settle at 2,607. The market saw very little movement throughout the day.
During trading, Nepse stayed between a high of 2,612 and a low of 2,602. The market has been slow in recent days. On the previous day, it had fallen by 7.86 points, while on Tuesday, it had gained 7.3 points. Overall, the market showed minimal fluctuations throughout the week.
The uncertain political situation and upcoming elections have slowed both buying and selling activity. “With no clear political direction, both buyers and sellers are moving cautiously,” said Bharat Ranabhat, former president of the Stock Brokers Association of Nepal.
Along with limited market movement, trading volume also remained under 4 billion. Thursday saw 3.49 billion in transactions, slightly lower than the previous day’s 3.73 billion.
Out of the listed companies, 98 saw their share prices rise, 149 fell, and 11 remained unchanged. Most sectors moved less than 1 percent, similar to the previous day. Today, banking rose 0.15%, life insurance 0.18%, manufacturing and processing 0.92%, microfinance 0.09%, and trading 0.07%.
On the other hand, development banks fell 0.19%, finance companies 0.65%, hotels and tourism 0.54%, hydropower 0.36%, investment 0.29%, non-life insurance 0.16%, and other sectors 0.63%.
Two companies saw a big jump of 10% in their share prices—Swastik Laghubitta and SY Panel. Srinagar Agritech rose 5.99% and Molung Hydropower gained 3.91%.
On the losing side, Muktinath Agriculture Company dropped the most at 8.42%, followed by Threestar Hydropower 4.71%, Upper Mailungkhola 4.10%, and Ingwa Hydropower 3.02%.
The top five most actively traded companies today were Ngadi Group, Srinagar Agritech, Sagar Distillery, Nepal Life Insurance, and Shivam Cement.
