The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) plunged by 20.56 points on Wednesday, closing at 2,544.60.

The benchmark index, which had gained 3.21 points on Tuesday after three days of decline, failed to sustain its upward momentum.

Out of the companies traded, share prices of 49 increased, while 158 declined and seven remained unchanged. The larger number of losing stocks pulled the overall index down by double digits.

A total of 8.40 million shares were traded in 66,824 transactions, amounting to Rs3.84 billion in turnover—slightly higher than Tuesday’s Rs3.62 billion.

Among the 13 trading subgroups, all except manufacturing and processing ended in the red, contributing to the overall market downturn, according to Nepse.