Nepal Stock Market Indicators Show Mixed Performance in Mid-April 2024

In a recently published report, Nepal Stock Market indicators reveal a mixed performance as of mid-April 2024. The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index has shown a slight recovery with a closing value of 2025.7 points, marking a 4.7% increase from the previous year's mid-April value of 1934.5 points. However, it remains significantly lower compared to 2022's 2415.3 points, reflecting a -19.9% change over the two-year period.

Here are three different visualizations of the stock market indicators for 2022, 2023, and 2024:

1. Bar Plot: This chart shows the comparison of stock market indicators for the years 2022, 2023, and 2024. Each indicator is represented by three bars, one for each year, allowing for a side-by-side comparison.

2. Line Plot: This chart illustrates the trend of stock market indicators over the three years. It helps to visualize the changes and trends for each indicator from 2022 to 2024.

3. Scatter Plot: This chart focuses on the values of stock market indicators for the year 2024. Each indicator is plotted as a point, providing a clear snapshot of the current state.

Similarly, the NEPSE Sensitive Index, which tracks the performance of blue-chip companies, closed at 358.2 points, experiencing a modest decline of -2.7% compared to the previous year and a more substantial -21.5% drop from 2022's 456.1 points.

The NEPSE Float Index, which measures the performance of freely tradable shares, recorded a value of 137.0 points in mid-April 2024. This index saw a small improvement of 1.0% over the last year but remains down by -17.7% from its 2022 value of 164.6 points.

In sector-specific performance, the Banking Sub-Index fell to 1059.2 points, showing a significant decline of -15.6% from the previous year and an even steeper drop of -34.0% compared to its 2022 value of 1604.4 points.

Market capitalization also exhibited a mixed trend. The total market capitalization stood at Rs. 3212008.1 million in mid-April 2024, which is an increase of 14.0% from the previous year but a -17.7% decline from 2022's Rs. 3426108.8 million. Meanwhile, the total paid-up value of listed shares surged by 15.2% over the previous year, reaching Rs. 819542.4 million.

The number of listed companies rose from 272 to 282 over the year, and the number of listed shares increased by 8.4% to 8267.4 million in mid-April 2024.

The report highlighted a notable improvement in the ratio of market capitalization to GDP, which stood at 56.3% in mid-April 2024. Despite this improvement over the previous year, it still marks a -12.5% decline from 2022's 68.8%.

Volatility in the NEPSE index decreased, with the twelve-month rolling standard deviation falling to 95.0 points from 140.4 points the previous year, reflecting a -32.4% change.

Trade activity saw a significant decrease, with the ratio of traded quantity of shares dropping to 17.1% from 12.3% over the past year, marking a -92.5% change. Similarly, the ratio of turnover to market capitalization fell by -64.4% to 11.7% in mid-April 2024.

The report also detailed market concentration ratios, with the concentration ratio of Group A companies decreasing to 38.1%, and the top 10 companies' concentration ratio falling to 25.8%.

Overall, while some indicators show positive trends and recovery signs, the Nepal stock market continues to grapple with challenges and volatility, reflecting the broader economic conditions and investor sentiments.