The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) started the day with a strong surge on Thursday but lost most of its early momentum by the market’s close.

Within the first three minutes of trading, the benchmark index jumped 102 points—or around 4 percent—reaching 2,675 points. The sharp rise triggered a 20-minute trading halt under the circuit breaker rule.

When trading resumed, selling pressure gradually built up, and by the end of the session, the index had retained only 22.59 points in gains to close at 2,582.

Total turnover for the day stood at Rs5.27 billion, down from Rs5.76 billion the previous day. Prices of 200 companies increased, 41 declined, and 10 remained unchanged.

Except for the trading sub-index, which dipped 1.48 percent, all other sectors posted gains. The banking, development bank, finance, hydropower, insurance, and hotel sectors rose by around 1 percent on average.