Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) last week shed 8.05 points to close at 1,329.41 points, with small investors booking profit amid a rise in share prices for the past few days after the government set the date for local-level elections.

The market that opened at 1,337.46 points on Sunday plunged 24.45 points to close at 1,313.01 points. It lost 13.72 points on Tuesday to 1,299.29 points, before gaining 17.51 points and 12.61 points, respectively, on Wednesday and Thursday. Overall, the market ended the week 0.6 percent lower.

“The slight fall in the index was due to small investors booking profits as share prices rose as a result of improved political scenario,” said Narendra Raj Sijapati, managing director of Kalika Securities. 

He said the market has been observing increased investment from small and new investors.

Along with the Nepse, the sensitive index that measures the performance of Group ‘A’ companies also fell 1.64 points to close at 290.88 points.

The total value of shares listed on the exchange dropped by Rs9.08 billion, with the market capitalisation declining to Rs1,498.17 billion from Rs1,507.25 billion over the week.

The Others group witnessed the largest fall of 45.98 points to close at 653.93 points. “A fall in investors’ interest in Nepal Telecom shares after the company’s announcement of 51 cash dividend affected the entire group,” Sijapati said. 

The group representing finance companies was the second biggest loser, with the sub-index falling 8.25 points to close at 607.53 points. The commercial bank sub-index also dropped 6.32 points.

The Hotels group observed largest gain of 61.57 points to close at 1,767.38 points. Other gainers were insurance, manufacturing, hydropower and development bank sub-indices. The Trading group was stable at 206.16 points.

Kumari Bank led in terms of both the transaction amount (Rs210.94 million) and the number of shares traded (409,000 units). 

Nepal Bangladesh Bank, posting a turnover of Rs184.33 million, stood second,  followed by Mahalaxmi Bikas Bank, Nepal Life Insurance and Shikhar Insurance.

Last week, shares of 150 listed companies were traded. Along with the fall in the index, the transaction amount also went down by 44.2 percent to Rs1.53 billion, and the number of shares traded almost halved to 3,320,510 units from 6,234,350 units.