Kathmandu, January 12: The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index last week (Jan 5 to 9) gained as much as 47 points to close at 1,213.11 points following the rumors that Yubaraj Khatiwada, current Minister for Finance will possibly quit from the present government.
The market that opened at 1,166.21 points gained more than 16 points on Sunday. On Monday and Tuesday, it went up by 18 and 16 points respectively. The benchmark index declined roughly by 7 points on Wednesday amid profit-booking by traders. But it recouped some of the losses on Thursday with the rise of 3 points. Overall, the Nepse index closed the last week up by 46.9 points or 4.02 percent compared to the previous week.
The sensitive index that measures the trading of shares of ‘A’ groups companies also went up 4.79 percent to close at 264.26 points.
The secondary market bounced back after investors rushed to purchase stocks of the commercial banks expecting the heavyweights will drive the market to further highs. With an increasing number of buyers, turnover crossed the Rs 4 billion mark for the first time since last June, shows the NEPSE record.
Barring aside the Trading, Hotels and Manufacturing & Processing, most of the sectors closed the last week by registering gains.
The sub-indices of microfinance rise by 186 points while the same of life and non-life insurance groups each posted triple-digit gain. Similarly, the development banks, commercial banks, hydropower, and finance companies each registered double-digit growth
In terms of individual companies, shares of Machhapuchchhre Bank Ltd were heavily traded in the review period. More than Rs 265 million worth of the bank’s shares changed hands. Similarly, NIC Asia Bank Ltd and Civil Bank Ltd Promoter Share posted turnovers of Rs 250 million and Rs 201 million respectively. Shivam Cements Ltd, Grameen Bikas Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd and Deprosc Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd were among other active scrips of the week.
With a rise in share prices of the majority of the sub-groups, the market capitalization inclined to Rs 1,546.58 from Rs 1,486.51 billion, adding over Rs 60 billion in the book value of the investment portfolio.
