Standard Chartered Bank's book closure drags Nepse down by 23.69 points

REPUBLICA
KATHMANDU, Oct 6: In an unprecedented case seen in Nepal´s capital market, shareholders of Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) lost Rs 1,440 per share in a single trading day on Tuesday, prompting Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index to shed 23.69 points.
Price of SCB shares dropped to Rs 3,960 per share from previous close of Rs 5,400 on Tuesday´s trading, where 200 units of bank´s shares changed hands. Book close cutoff date, the day after which company will not handle any transfer of shares requests until benefits dividends or bonus issues are transferred, of the bank on Monday and new pricing from Tuesday pushed down the price sharply.
SCB, one of the largest profit making private banks, has announced 50 percent bonus share and Rs 50 per share as cash dividend to its shareholders.
The huge loss in the share price of SCB pushed down the benchmark Nepse by 3.72 percent or 23.69 points to close at 613.18 points. During previous two trading sessions, Nepse had recorded marginal gains after weeklong Dashain holidays.
Sensitive index, an indicator of trading of Class A category companies, shed 8.61 points or 5.24 percent at the end of Tuesday´s trading session. Banking, the dominant trading group in Nepal´s capital market, lost whopping 39.28 points to drop at 604.24 points in its sub-index with the loss in the share prices of major banks, including Standard Chartered Bank, NMB Bank, Bank of Kathmandu and KIST Bank.
Development Bank and Hydro Power groups also saw their sub-indices slip by 2.3 points and 7.8 points to 666.54 points and 814.77 points respectively. However, Finance and Insurance groups registered marginal gains of 0.89 points and 1.48 points to close at 638.03 and 608.52 points respectively at the end of Tuesday´s session.
Total turnover reached Rs 6.07 million with 163,259 units of shares and 58 scrips changing hands through 695 transactions on Tuesday. Total market capitalization -- total worth of listed shares -- has reached Rs 429.90 billion.