Even as daily life gradually returns to normalcy after last week’s unprecedented violence and arson triggered by the Gen Z protests, the country’s stock market will remain closed for another week.  The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) has announced that secondary market trading will not resume until Sept 21, citing ongoing instability and investor concerns.

Trading had already been suspended since Sept 9 after police crackdowns on protesters a day earlier left nearly 20 people dead. The protest and the resulting wave of destruction led Nepse to extend the trading halt, in line with the Securities Act, and with the approval of the Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon), said an official from the stock exchange.

Although the initial suspension was only until Sept 17, trading will reopen on Sunday only as the trading floors of Nepse open for trading from Sunday to Thursday only.

Earlier, different associations of stock market investors had urged the regulator to keep the market shut, warning that reopening during a fragile period would lead to irrational decisions and heightened volatility. In a joint statement, Share Investors Association Nepal, Nepal Capital Market Investors Association, and Independent Investors Association said the prevailing climate had seriously affected investor confidence and that halting trading was the prudent safeguard at the moment.

Market analysts have also said that since capital markets are highly sensitive to external shocks, even minor developments can trigger sharp swings. They cautioned against reopening amid ongoing protests.

Before the suspension, the Nepse index had fallen for five consecutive days, closing at 2,672.25 points on Sept 8. Nepse has mostly traded in negative territory since hitting a four-year high of 3,002.07 points on July 29. Since then, the benchmark index has already fallen by 329.82 points. Over Rs 530bn in market value has been wiped out since the last week of July when the bourse’s capitalization touched an all-time high of Rs 5,000bn.