The Securities Board of Nepal said it was working to shorten the time needed to settle stock trades. The length of the transaction settlement period will be cut down from the existing T 3 days to T 1 day from the next fiscal year. This means traders will get their money from the sale of their shares on the day following the transaction. Currently, investors have to wait for three days to get their money.

The move aims to placate investors who have launched a protest demanding that the stock market regulator promptly implement its planned actions. The board said that the shorter settlement period could help boost the share market.

Spokesperson for the board Niraj Giri said they would bring down the transaction settlement period as soon as the Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) completes integrating its online trading software with the clearing banks, CDS and Clearing Limited and depository participants.

The regulator of the stock market has often been criticised for its ineffective role in boosting the country’s only bourse. The board has been unable to check wrongdoings in the share market like insider trading, malpractices by brokering companies and speculation by groups of investors. In addition, the board has been unable to correct the flaws in the online trading software launched by the Nepal Stock Exchange in November.   

The Securities Board of Nepal constantly announces new regulations, but it has been able to implement only a few of them, said investors. A group of disgruntled investors who started a hunger strike three months ago padlocked the board’s office on Sunday. They even tried to disrupt official work at the Nepal Stock Exchange.

Board officials said the investors’ agitation was guided by vested interests. According to them, the investors are upset mainly because of a sharp drop in share prices.

There is a bearish trend in the stock market with the NEPSE index sinking to 1,100 points from 1,900 points two years ago. “It is purely demand and supply of stocks that makes the index go up or down,” said a board official who did not want to be named.   

Trading disrupted due to glitch in data centre

KATHMANDU: Share transactions were disrupted for around three hours on Wednesday after problems arose in the data centre being used by brokering companies. The bourse extended trading hours to 6 pm to make up for downtime. On normal days, the stock exchange closes at 3 pm.

According to the Nepal Stock Exchange, it had to halt trading after the data centre operated by stockbrokers could not upload the orders posted for share transactions. Stockbrokers have been managing the data centre since the automated online platform was launched.

All 50 stockbrokers in the country are using a cloud service provided by Data Hub, a service providing company. As per the system, orders posted by brokers are transmitted to the Nepal Stock Exchange’s system via the data centre.