May 8: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) Index continues to plummet, with the second trading day of the week resulting in a further loss of 16.93 points, closing at 1833.69 points. This marks a loss of 0.91% compared to yesterday's decline of 1.09%.

A total of 270 scrips exchanged hands via 25,588 transactions, amounting to a turnover of Rs. 82.42 crores. This is a significant increase from the previous day's turnover of Rs. 60.81 crores.

SHIVAM CEMENTS LTD (SHIVM) had the highest turnover of Rs. 3.78 crores and closed at a market price of Rs. 398 per share. The shares of HDHPC traded the most.

Wean Nepal Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited (WNLB) bucked the trend and gained the highest 8.05% for the day. Conversely, Eastern Hydropower Limited (EHPL) lost the most, falling by 9.99% today. 

All 13 sector indices closed in the red zone, with "Hotel and Tourism" experiencing the highest loss of 2.44%, while "Mutual Fund" saw a marginal loss of 0.06%.

The Sensitive Index lost 0.68%, while the Float Index and Sensitive Float Index fell by 0.94% and 0.72%, respectively.

Expert investors attribute the continuous decline in NEPSE to the ongoing financial crisis, lack of liquidity, high interest rates on credit, and low economic growth.

Investors are urging for policy-level changes that can inject confidence into the stock market.

They are hopeful that the Nepal Rastra Bank will remove the cap of NPR 1200 million on margin lending and reduce the risk weightage on share loans from 150 to 100 in its quarterly review of monetary policy.

If these policy-level changes are implemented, they are expected to have a positive impact on the stock market, according to expert investors.