KATHMANDU, April 18 -- Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) on Thursday plunged 19.56 points to close at 1,972.14 points.

The secondary market opened at 1,991.71 points and fell successively almost throughout the trading hours. The index reached the day's low at 1,967.49 points before the last five minutes, while the market recovered around five points before it closed for the day.

The sensitive index that measures the performance of 'A' class companies also declined by 3.04 points. The daily turnover decreased marginally to Rs 2.09 billion from Rs 2.10 billion on Tuesday. The market remained closed on Wednesday due to the public holiday to mark Ram Nawami.

All the 13 trading groups witnessed a fall in their indices. Manufacturing and processi...