Kathmandu, June 30: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) declined for a second straight session this week on Tuesday, with the benchmark index falling 24.63 points, or 0.93 percent, to close at 2,608.33. The slide follows losses recorded in the previous week as well.

The decline came a day after the index had slipped by 16.54 points, reflecting continued selling pressure across the market.

The broader market also weakened, with the Sensitive Index, which tracks Class 'A' companies, declining by 0.66 percent, while the Float Index fell by 0.84 percent.

Investor sentiment remained subdued as all sectoral indices closed in negative territory. The Trading sector recorded the steepest decline of 1.74 percent, followed by Hydropower at 1.43 percent, Others at 1.31 percent, Manufacturing and Processing at 1.20 percent, and Finance at 1.00 percent. Losses in the remaining sectors were below one percent.

Despite the market downturn, trading activity improved. Daily turnover rose to Rs 3.25 billion, up from Rs 2.67 billion recorded on Monday. A total of 8.74 million shares of 365 listed companies were traded through 79,286 transactions during the session.

Market breadth also remained negative. Of the traded scrips, 35 advanced, 235 declined, while five remained unchanged.

Among individual stocks, Snow Rivers Limited (SNORL) emerged as the day's top gainer, climbing 14.99 percent, just short of the upper circuit limit of 15%. On the losing side, Taksar Pikhuwa Khola Hydropower Limited (TPKHL) posted the steepest decline, falling 14.03 percent.

Following Tuesday's decline, the total market capitalisation of NEPSE stood at Rs 4.467 trillion at the close of trading.