NEPSE Markets Daily Recap August 13, 2026: GHL alone does 8% of the market

NEPSE closed at 2,651.21, up 8.81 points (+0.33%), the largest single-day gain in more than a fortnight and the first session since 30 July where the index moved and the breadth agreed with it.

That last part is the whole story. For seven sessions this report has been describing a market where a flat or marginally green index sat on top of a broken tape: 210 losers to 68 gainers, 220 to 112, 195 to 137. Today it inverted. 202 advanced against 122 declined, 23 unchanged, 347 scripts traded an A/D ratio of 1.66, the first reading above 1.0 in this entire stretch.

Twelve of thirteen sectors closed green. The exception was Investment, which was yesterday's hero.

The path was constructive too. The index opened at 2,642.65, dipped to 2,636.94 in the first hour well above the 2,629 zone that had held twice then climbed steadily to 2,656.54 and closed just 5.33 points off the high. That is the opposite of Tuesday, where the entire gain arrived in the closing auction. Today the buying was spread across the session.

Turnover recovered to Rs 3.72 arab, up 5.5%, on 45,822 transactions (+4.2%) and 1.02 crore units (+17.5%). All three moved up together for the first time this week. The average ticket fell to Rs 81,289 from Rs 80,293 essentially flat meaning the extra turnover came from more participants rather than bigger tickets.

Ghalemdi Hydro (GHL) is the single most important print on the board. It closed at 256.70, up 11.90%, on Rs 29.98 crore across 2,842 transactions and 1.18 crore units. That is 8.05% of the entire market's turnover, the highest transaction count on the exchange and more shares than the next three volume leaders combined. It opened at 233.90, traded as low as 230.10 and closed near its 263.80 high.

Market capitalisation rose to Rs 4.56 trillion up from Rs 4.54 trillion.

Index Snapshot

Turnover Rs 3.72 arab (+5.45% DoD) · Volume 1.02 crore units (+17.51%) · Transactions 45,822 (+4.16%) · Scripts traded 347 · Avg ticket Rs 81,289 · Market cap Rs 4.56 trillion

Sensitive (+0.21%) underperformed NEPSE by 12bps after two sessions of leading. On an up day driven by mid-cap hydropower, that is expected, it confirms the move came from the broad market rather than the large-cap complex.

Sectoral Indices Performance

Every sector's breadth turned positive except Investment and Mutual Fund. Manufacturing at 12 up / 2 down, Microfinance at 32/15 after two sessions of unwinding, Life Insurance 9/4, Non-Life 10/4. This is not one sector carrying an index, it is the whole board lifting at once.

Hydropower's share went straight back to 55.1% from yesterday's 42.0%, but this time it paid: +0.56% with breadth of 69 up / 37 down, a complete inversion of yesterday's 31/76. For the first time in this stretch, hydro took half the market's money and produced a price. That distortion half the turnover, no movement has been the recurring complaint in this report for a week. It broke today.

Investment gave back exactly what it took. Yesterday it was the standout at +2.21% on 12.1% of turnover with six of eight names up. Today it is the only red sector at ‑0.49%, breadth 3 up / 5 down, turnover down to 6.3%. NRN fell 0.71%, HIDCL ‑2.34%, ENL ‑5.11%, CHDC ‑0.58%, NIFRA ‑0.16%. Yesterday's question in this report was whether eight stocks could hold Rs 42 crore a day. The answer arrived in one session: no. Turnover halved to Rs 23.34 crore and the sector rolled over.

Market Breadth

A/D ratio 1.66, first reading above parity in this entire down-stretch. Thirty-two scripts gained more than 2% against 23 that fell more than 2%; median move +0.23%, the first positive median in the series.

Technical scan: 4,724 signals fired, 1,177 bullish (24.92%) against 1,831 bearish (38.76%). The three-day series: 41.80% → 40.41% → 38.76% bearish. Bearish signals are still outnumbering bullish by roughly 1.6:1, so on a signal basis this is a bounce inside a downtrend rather than a confirmed turn, the indicator set has not caught up to the price action.

Winners & Losers

Top Gainers

Excluded: SAPIL, showing +15.00% at 345.00 on 70 units with no previous close, a listing debut measured against a reference price, not a gainer. MEPDL at +14.99% on 220 units is its second day of trading and remains too thin to read.

Nine of the twelve are hydropower, and unlike the SOHL/RIDI trade of the past week, these are mostly sub-Rs 300 names on heavy transaction counts. HURJA, SSHL, HDHPC, LEC, RHGCL and CHL are all mid-tier hydro that moved 3%+ together. When a dozen names in one sector move the same direction on real participation that is sector rotation not a handful of positions.

GHL is the day. Rs 29.98 crore, 2,842 transactions, 1.18 crore units, +11.90% closing near the high after opening near the low. Its turnover alone exceeds the entire Investment sector's Rs 23.34 crore. The transaction count is 65% higher than the next name on the board.

SKHL topped the board at +13.02% on Rs 4.52 crore and 505 transactions, trading 831.00–1,015.00, a 22% intraday range that closed in the upper third.

UHEWA is back. After this report called it "the only clean multi-day trend" on Tuesday and then watched it fall 3.16% on Wednesday, it rose 3.77% today, trading 600.00–670.00. Turnover recovered from Rs 2.12 crore to Rs 5.34 crore. Two up days, one down, one up the pattern is choppy rather than trending but it has now been in the top movers four sessions running.

PCIL was the strongest non-hydro name: +4.48% on Rs 7.55 crore and 1,630 transactions, the third-highest count on the exchange, carrying Manufacturing & Processing to the top of the sector table.

Top Losers

Excluded as non-signal: PBLD86 (‑10.45% on 3 units), GBILD86/87 (3 units), SCBD (2 units), LBLD86 (2 units), NCCD86 (2 units), BOKD86, JBBD87, LUK, SAGF, RMF1. Ten of the sixteen raw losers are debentures or fund units on single-digit trade counts — as on Wednesday, they dominate the unfiltered list and mean nothing.

Only three names on the entire board lost more than 3% with meaningful volume behind them.

ULHC keeps sliding. Third consecutive decline: limit-up Tuesday at 436.60, limit-down Wednesday at 371.20, ‑3.29% today at 359.00. It is now 17.8% below Tuesday's close and below where it started the whole round trip. On a day when 69 of 111 hydro names rose, ULHC fell, the reversal trade has fully exhausted.

CORBL is down four straight sessions: +8.47% on Monday, then ‑1.32%, ‑4.74%, ‑2.85%. Cumulatively ‑8.6% from Monday's close, having given back the entire spike and more, on 471 transactions today.

Yesterday's Investment winners all reversed: ENL ‑5.11%, HIDCL ‑2.34%, NRN ‑0.71%, CHDC ‑0.58%, NIFRA ‑0.16%. HIDCL's technical setup above VWAP, above EMA-50, RSI through 50, lasted exactly one session.

Turnover & Volume Leaders

Concentration eased meaningfully for the first time this week. Top ten fell to 34.8% of turnover from 40.4%, and top twenty to 47.9% from 52.9%. That is the first time in this series the top twenty have been below half the market. More names are absorbing money, consistent with the breadth reading.

SOHL and RIDI keep shrinking. SOHL has gone Rs 44.88 Cr → 22.07 Cr → 15.71 Cr across three sessions; RIDI Rs 33.68 Cr → 10.33 Cr → 9.70 Cr. Together they are now 6.8% of the market, down from 19.1% on Tuesday. Both fell again, SOHL's fifth consecutive session without a gain, RIDI's fourth. The trade that dominated this tape for a week is being unwound in an orderly fashion, and the money is going into smaller hydro names rather than leaving.

RIDI is worth a closer look: it opened at its 393.70 high and closed at 371.00, near the 368.30 low, on a day when its sector rose 0.56%. That is a distribution print.

Most transacted: GHL (2,842), SGHL (1,724), PCIL (1,630), SOHL (1,453), KAHL (1,065), SOPL (736), LEC (646), TPKHL (643), HDHPC (602), KKHC (583).

SGHL holds second place for a third straight session on Rs 3.75 crore, an average ticket around Rs 21,700, still the retail floor of this market. GHL's average ticket is Rs 105,500.

Bulk/block activity: the largest single transaction was CFCL at Rs 3.46 crore, printed at 11:33:33 AM. The five largest blocks totalled Rs 12.34 crore: CFCL (Rs 3.46 Cr), SBI (Rs 2.64 Cr), UMHL twice (Rs 2.53 Cr and Rs 2.16 Cr), and ADBL (Rs 1.55 Cr). Note the composition, two commercial banks and a hydro name, versus Wednesday's RADHI/NRN/AKJCL/KKHC/GBIME spread and Tuesday's SOHL/RIDI/UHEWA concentration. Block money has rotated for a third consecutive day into a different set of names.

The closing-minute block tape shows RADHI (Rs 31.9 lakh), SPDL (Rs 34.7 lakh) and SOHL (Rs 21.2 lakh) all printing between 2:59:36 and 2:59:38 PM. Unlike Tuesday, the closing auction was not what made the day, the index was already up before it.

Previous Session Recap: Wednesday, 12 August

NEPSE closed at 2,642.40, up 0.55 points (+0.02%), on breadth of 137 up / 195 down. Turnover fell 14.1% to Rs 3.53 arab on 43,990 transactions, the lowest count of the week. ULHC closed limit-down at ‑14.98%, one session after closing limit-up at +14.99%.

Hydropower's share collapsed to 42.0% with 76 of 111 names down while Investment eight stocks took 12.1% of the market and rose 2.21%, led by NRN at Rs 31.60 crore. Three banks reported double-digit profit growth and Banking closed +0.05%.

Weekly context: across the five sessions from 7 to 13 August, NEPSE has gone 2,650.08 → 2,641.06 → 2,641.85 → 2,642.40 → 2,651.21 — a net gain of 1.13 points. Turnover across the week: 3.77 → 3.67 → 4.11 → 3.53 → 3.72 arab. The index has effectively been flat for a week while participation contracted and then partially recovered.

Top Stories in Nepal

• One million children now hold demat accounts. A structural datapoint rather than a daily one: the retail base is being built at the household level, which fits the small-ticket footprint visible in names like SGHL and KAHL every session.

• Mount Everest Power (MEPDL) completed its second trading day at 396.70, up 14.99% on 220 units still too thin to read as price discovery.

• Bank earnings continue: Muktinath Bikas Bank (+12.44% profit, distributable earnings lagging), Nepal SBI (+12.89% to Rs 2.04 billion), Kumari Bank (Rs 7.39 billion FY 2082/83) all reported into this week. Banking rose 0.39% today with 11 of 21 names up — a better response than Wednesday's flat print, though still muted relative to the earnings.

Corporate Actions & Events

RNLI rose 1.16% today ahead of its Shrawan 30 lock-in expiry — the market is still not pricing the supply. That remains the most under-watched dated event on the calendar.

What to Watch

2,656.54 is today's high and the immediate hurdle. Above it, Thursday 6 August's 2,676.40 high is the level this report has flagged all week as the one that has to break to end the downtrend now 25 points away. Below, 2,636.94 is today's low and the 2,629 zone has held three times.

Does the breadth hold? A/D of 1.66 after seven sessions below 0.71 is a genuine change, but one session does not make a trend, and this market has punished every single-session move for two weeks. The confirmation to look for is a second consecutive session with advancers above decliners that has not happened once in this stretch.

The Investment sector's one-day life cycle is the cautionary tale. Yesterday: 12.1% of turnover, +2.21%, six of eight up, technical breakouts in HIDCL and NIFRA. Today: 6.3% of turnover, ‑0.49%, three of eight up, every breakout reversed. If GHL and the mid-tier hydro complex follow the same arc tomorrow, today's rally is just the next rotation rather than a turn.

GHL at 8% of the market in a single name. Rs 29.98 crore and 2,842 transactions on a 12% move is real, but it is also the kind of concentration that has marked the top in every name this week: SOHL, RIDI, NRN, CFCL each had their session and then faded. Watch whether GHL holds above 250 tomorrow or opens at the high and closes at the low, which is what RIDI did today.

Concentration is easing and that is the healthiest signal on the tape. Top twenty at 47.9% of turnover, below half for the first time this week, with SOHL and RIDI down to a combined 6.8% from 19.1% on Tuesday. Money is dispersing across more names rather than crowding into two. If that continues alongside positive breadth, the market is genuinely broadening.

Participation: 53,524 → 52,073 → 43,990 → 45,822 transactions. Recovering, but still below Monday's level, and volume at 1.02 crore units is the highest since Monday. The combination this report has been waiting for turnover up, volume up, transactions up, breadth positive arrived today for the first time. One instance is a datapoint; two would be a trend.