Investors willing to sell or purchase less than 10 units of shares will not have to wait until Friday as Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) is allowing such small-volume transactions also on regular trading days (Sunday to Thursday).

Nepse General Manager Sitaram Thapaliya said the new provision, which will come into effect from Sunday, is aimed at facilitating small investors. “Besides demand from investors and stockbrokers, Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) recently directed Nepse to enforce the provision,” he said. However, such small-volume transaction will not be taken into account while calculating the index, according to Nepse.

The exchange has also simplified the process of “odd lot” trading — transaction of shares in numbers not divisible by 10 — effective from Sunday.

Under the existing system, stockbrokers should keep any purchase or sell order of shares in numbers not divisible by 10 under the “all or none” field in the software, but not under the regular field.

This provision makes the transaction complicated because if a broker if fails

to post the order under the specific field, the shares are not quickly sold and advantage goes to those placing order of stocks in numbers divisible by 10.

However, after the implementation of the new provision, any number of stocks can be traded irrespective of the fields under which the order is placed in the software. “This is expected to help protect investors from being manipulated by stockbrokers,” said Thapalia.

Nepse says full online transaction soon

KATHMANDU: Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) has said it will implement full online trading system soon. Nepse General Manager Sita Ram Thapaliya said they have asked YCO, a software vendor, to initiate the process as soon as possible. “We have issued terms of reference to YCO to initiate the work,” Thapaliya said. “The company has assured to provide its working schedule in 2-3 days.” Last year, Nepse appointed YCO to upgrade its system for fully automated trading. However, Sebon disqualified the company stating it did not meet the criteria. Last month, YCO received go-ahead from the court. (PR)