Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) last week slipped marginally by 5.35 points (0.20 percent) amid the country’s political situation heading toward the general election scheduled on March 5.

The secondary market opened at 2,714.05 points on Sunday, while it closed at 2,708.70 points on Thursday. During the trading period, the index reached as high as 2,719.62 points and as low as 2,659.86 points, resulting in the fluctuation of 85.53 points.

With a fall of 19.85 points, the market opened for the weekdays at a negative note on Sunday, which was followed by a slight gain of 1.53 points on the consecutive day. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the market shed 12.58 points and 1.64 points, respectively. The market, however, bounced back by adding 27.19 points on Thursday to close for the week.

Sector-wise, six were the gainers. Hotels and Tourism group was the highest gainer of 2.19 percent (164.83 points). Non-life insurance, manufacturing and processing, mutual funds, development banks and trading, were among others. Of the seven losers, the finance index fell by the highest of 1.03 percent.

Regarding the individual companies, SY Panel Nepal with turnover of its shares worth Rs 2.65 billion stood as the topmost in the segment. Kalinchowk Darshan Limited stood as the topmost gainer by adding 34.36 percent in its market value. Kalika Power Company Limited lost 9.27 percent, the highest of all.

The total turnover amount declined 35.98 percent, from Rs 70.36 billion to Rs 45.04 billion. The average turnover decreased to over Rs 9 billion from Rs 14.07 billion.

In the review period, the market capitalization decreased to Rs 4.547 trillion from Rs 4.556 trillion, making investors face a loss of more than Rs 9 billion in their book values. In the previous week, the loss amount was recorded at Rs 1 billion.