Kathmandu, Jan. 4 -- The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) declined by 10.29 points on Sunday-the first trading day of the week-registering a 0.39 percent drop compared with the previous session. With the fall, the benchmark index closed at 2,610.63 points.

Market figures show that share prices of 79 listed companies increased, while 171 declined and 9 remained unchanged. Of the 13 sub-indices, only hotels & tourism, manufacturing & processing, and trading posted gains. All other groups ended in negative territory, pulling the overall index down into double-digit loss.

Despite the decline in the benchmark, overall market activity picked up. A total of 79,702 transactions were recorded, during which 10,274,126 shares were traded, amounting to...