Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) rose 9.81 points to close at 1,357.34 points last week, as investor sentiment was boosted by hopes that local elections would be held on time and liquidity position in the banking sector would improve.

After a colorful finish to Holi, the market opened at 1,347.53 points on Monday, gained 7.7 points to close the day at 1,355.23 points. But Tuesday showed delayed signs of the Monday blues, losing 8.14 points to close at 1,347.09 points. Wednesday gained an impressive 9.04 points followed by another gain of 1.21 points on Thursday, completing the topsy-turvy week at Nepse, where the  market closed the week at just 0.72 percent higher.

“With hopes of government holding local elections on time, investors rushed to purchase shares last week,” said Narendra Raj Sijapati, managing director of Kalika Securities. He also opined that the improving liquidity positions in the banking sector could have played an important role in the market receiving a large number of transaction orders.

The total value of shares listed on the exchange jumped up by Rs18.71 billion, with the market capitalisation reaching Rs1,539.33 billion from Rs1,520.62 billion over the week.

Along with the Nepse index, the sensitive index that measures the performance of Group ‘A’ companies gained 2.1 points to close at 294.83 points.

The biggest gainer was the insurance sub-group, amassing a gain of 173.59 points to close at 6,263.21 points. “As the insurance sector has a low portion of its stocks in the capital market, a small rise in demand for the group’s segment results in a large rise in its index,” Sijapati said.

Hydropower group stood second among the top gainers. The index of the sub-group gained 44.56 points to close at 1,643.89 points. Other gainers were manufacturing (up 13.72 points), development banks (up 3.99 points), commercial banks (up 3.64 points), finance companies (up 3.32 points) and others (up 2.61 points). The sole loser in the market was the Hotel group, dropping 14.23 points to close at 1,792.94 points. Trading group was stable at 206.16 points throughout the week. 

Nepal Investment Bank topped in terms of both transaction amount (Rs308.54 million) and the number of traded shares (548,000 units). The second spot was filled by Nepal Life Insurance, with a turnover of Rs109.42 million. Nepal Credit and Commerce Bank, Global IME Bank and Asian Life Insurance rounded out the top five companies with the highest transactions.

Last week, shares of 156 listed companies were traded.

Right Shares/Bonus Shares

Company                                        Type    Units

Chilime Hydropower Company           Bonus    3,134,476.80

Hamro Bikas Bank                           Bonus    305,833.875

Country Development Bank              Bonus    301,604.16

Agriculture Development Bank          Right     19,688,000