Kathmandu, January 5: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index last week (Dec 29 to Jan 2) fell slightly by 1.19 points to close at 1,166.21 points. Such a fall could be attributed to the increased selling pressure of stocks felt by the investors sought to settle the banks’ monthly installment as the second quarter-end approaches.
The market that opened at 1,167.41 points declined 4.98 points on Sunday. On Monday, it, however, inched up by 5.52 points, followed again by a drop of 1.92 points on the successive day. The benchmark index bounced back with a gain of 3.46 points on Wednesday, which again witnessed a downfall of 3.28 points on Thursday..
Overall, the benchmark index closed the last week with a marginal fall 0.10%.
The sensitive index that measures the trading of shares of ‘A’ groups companies also went down 2.17 points to close at 252.18 points.
Life insurance, hotels, manufacturing, trading, microfinance and development banks were those sectors showing strength during the review period.
Life insurance was the top performer with its sub-index going up by 200 points. The hotels witnessed three-digit gain-118 points- while the manufacturing, trading, and microfinance posted double-digit gain. The development banks gained marginally.
‘Others’ was the top loser which went down by around 34 points. Similarly, commercial banks, finance companies, non-life insurance, and hydropower were other losers of the last week.
In terms of individual companies, Nepal Life Insurance Company Ltd posted the highest turnover as it traded stocks worth more than Rs 268 million. Similarly, Shivam Cements Ltd, Himalayan Distillery, NIC Asia Bank and Citizen Investment Trust registered the turnovers of Rs 199.18 million, Rs 97.45 million Rs 62.39 million and Rs 61.50 million respectively.
With a rise in share prices of the majority of the sub-groups, the market capitalization rose to Rs 1,486.51 billion from Rs 1,482.94 billion, adding Rs 3.57 billion in the book value of the investment portfolio.
