Kathmandu: Nepal’s stock market showed no signs of recovery on Wednesday with the NEPSE index extending its downward run into a third consecutive session. However, brisk trading activity and a handful of standout performers kept investor interest alive.

The benchmark index shed 14.45 points to close at 2,660.02 with broader market gauges mirroring the weakness, the Sensitive Index eased 2.60 points, the Float Index lost 0.98 points and the Sensitive Float Index retreated 0.83 points.

Interestingly, the bearish mood did little to dampen trading appetite. Investors exchanged over 10.7 million shares across 72,917 deals involving 338 stocks pushing total turnover to NPR 4.41 billion, a modest improvement over Tuesday’s NPR 4.36 billion.

The session’s brightest spots came from the hydropower sector. Tarksar Pikhuwakhola Hydropower and Yambalung Hydropower both locked in positive circuits for the second day running, each gaining NPR 59.50 to finish at NPR 456.20.

Bhujung Hydropower delivered an even bigger surprise vaulting more than 14.5% while CYC Nepal Microfinance climbed close to 10%. Newly traded Sopan Pharmaceuticals, however, had a rough debut on the charts falling the hardest among all stocks at 5.05%.

Ankhu Khola Hydroelectric Company remained the market’s most actively traded counter for the second day in a row generating turnover of NPR 296.2 million. Sopan Pharmaceuticals drew significant speculative interest as well crossing NPR 172 million in value followed by United Modi Hydropower at roughly NPR 120 million.

Across the market’s 13 sub sectors selling pressure dominated. Only Finance and Trade managed to eke out marginal gains while the remaining 11 sub indices slipped lower. Manufacturing and Processing bore the brunt of the selloff with a 1.10% decline and the “Other” category also fell beyond the 1% mark.