October 8: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) Index lost 35.67 points or 1.82% and closed at 1921.24 points on the first trading day of the week, Sunday.

Today’s heavy fall reflects share investors’ dissatisfaction to the Nepal Rastra Bank’s circular to raise the cap of the margin lending from Rs 120 million to Rs 150 million for individuals and Rs 200 million for institutional investors.

They had been demanding for the removal of the upper caps on the margin loan. However, the central bank had changed the upper caps by slightly increasing the limit.

Stock market experts and analysts, however, say that market has decreased due to various reasons. Prices of the many companies have come at the bottom level, suitable for investors to purchase.

During today's trading, as many as 289 different stocks were traded in the NEPSE index.  A total of 5,815,189 units of shares exchanged their hands, amounting to the total turnover of Rs 1.80 billion.

SHIVAM CEMENTS LTD (SHIVM) had the highest turnover, reaching Rs. 6.73 crores, and closed at a market price of Rs. 519.90.

Similarly, Barahi Hydropower Public Limited (BHPL) witnessed the highest gain of 9.59%, followed by Siddhartha Investment Growth Scheme - 2 (SIGS2) with a gain of 9.40%.

On the flip side, Himalayan Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited (HLBSL) and Garima Debenture, 2085 (GBBD85) experienced the highest loss of 10% today.

In terms of sector indices, all sector indices closed in red territory. "Hydropower Index" lost the highest 2.72% while "Mutual Fund Index" lost the least 1.08% today.

Sensitive Index declined by 1.55%, while Float Index and Sensitive Float Index lost 1.83% and 1.68% respectively.