KATHMANDU, Feb. 2 -- Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) on Thursday plunged 22.12 points to close at 2,094.54 points.

The secondary market opened at 2,116.65 points and reached as high as 2,126.14 points in the first hour of trading. However, the market went into a straight fall in the remaining trading hours.

The daily turnover, however, increased marginally to Rs 2.096 billion from Rs 1.767 billion on Wednesday.

A total of 194 companies lost in their market values whereas 19 companies recorded gains. The sensitive index that measures the performance of blue chip companies dropped 2.80 points.

All the 13 trading groups had a decline in their indices. Of the losers, banking, investment and mutual funds witnessed a nominal drop in their mark...