Thukten Zangpo
Despite an increase in the volume of shares traded this year, the total traded share value in the secondary market declined compared to 2020.
The traded volume of shares increased by 2.25M to 26.95 million (M) as of yesterday from 24.70M shares at the end of 2020.
However, the value of shares traded decreased by Nu 155.19M to Nu 708.4M as of yesterday compared to Nu 863.59M at the end of 2020.
An official from the Royal Securities Exchange of Bhutan Limited said: “The majority of the trades happened at a lower price in 2021 compared to last year.”
He added that the price of the securities in the market depends on the behaviour of investors.
The banks, especially the Bhutan National Bank Limited (BNBL) and Royal Insurance Corporation of Bhutan Limited (RICBL) make up around 50 percent of the market shares, and these two companies dictate the Bhutan Stock Index (BSI).
The BSI was recorded at 992.15 as of yesterday. BSI measures the stock market’s performance and serves as benchmarks for investors measuring the performance of their own investment portfolio.
BSI was set at 1,000 as a baseline on December 31, 2019. BSI above 1,000 indicates gain in the price of the shares and below 1,000 shows a decline.
BNBL, RICBL, GIC-Bhutan Re-Limited, Druk Wang Alloys Limited, and Sherza Ventures Limited (SVL) were the top five most traded shares as of yesterday.
The RICBL and BNBL traded the highest at Nu 8.28M shares and Nu 7.43M respectively.
The decline in the value of the shares was because of a drop in the second-highest traded share price of BNBL, which saw a price drop by Nu 0.49 to Nu 31.16 from Nu 31.65 as of yesterday.
While the fifth most traded shares, SVL’s share price fell to Nu 16.50 from Nu 18.65 in 2020.
Other companies that saw a drop in the prices of shares are Bhutan Carbide and Chemicals, the Penden Cement Authority, the Druk Punjab Bank Limited, and the Kuensel Corporation Limited.
The market cap, which is the value of shares at the current market of the 19 companies, was recorded at 49.288B as of yesterday.