Nabil, IMEFI book closure drags Nepse down

REPUBLICA
KATHMANDU, With the book closure a cutoff date for transferring shares for the benefit of cash dividend and bonus shares of Nabil Bank and IME Financial Institution (IMEFI), Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index dipped by 27.42 points to close at 630.11 points on Tuesday.
The book closure of these two financial institutions further pulled down the benchmark index, already suffering due to rumor of possible arrival of promoters´ shares in the country´s sole secondary market.
“Investors rushed to sell off their shares of Nabil Bank and IMEFI, making investors shy away from buying those due to book closure from Tuesday,” Nanda Kishore Mundada, president of Nepal Stock Brokers´ Association, told myrepublica.com.
Nabil Bank has announced a cash dividend of Rs 35 per share cash and 50 percent bonus share, while the IMEFI has announced 20 percent bonus shares to its share holders.
With the announcement of book closure, the share price of Nabil Bank, a heavy weight in Banking group, saw its share price down by Rs 1,599 to close at Rs 2,652.
Banking group, which command significant influence in the secondary market, suffered a decline of a whopping 47.2 points to close at 626.31 points. The decline was contributed by the drop in share prices of major banks, including Nabil, Standard Chartered, Everest Bank and Bank of Kathmandu, during Tuesday´s trading.
Similarly, the sub-indices of Development Bank group and Hydropower group also lost 7.98 points and 0.68 points to close at 679.75 points and 862.91 respectively.
With the sharp fall in the share prices of major finance companies, including IMEFI, ICFC Bittiya Sanstha and Prudential Bittiya Sanstha, the sub-index of Finance Company group faced a decline of 6.79 points to close at 645.77 points. The Insurance group also saw its sub-index drop by 0.18 points to close at 628.84 points.
Total turnover at the end of Tuesday´s session reached Rs 6.89 million, with 121,578 units of shares and 62 scrips changing hands through 1,101 transactions. Total market capitalization stood at Rs 438.37 billion.