Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) jumped 66.5 points to close at 1,819.88 points last week as investors, expecting dividend declarations after Dashain holiday, held on to their shares.

The market that opened at 1,753.38 points on Sunday gained 10.4 points to close at 1,763.78 points. On Monday, the market rose 16.62 points to reach 1,780.4 points. The index continued gains on Tuesday and Wednesday, up 18.1 points and 8.1 points, respectively. It further jumped 13.28 points on Thursday, closing the week 3.79 percent higher.

“A number of insurance companies, including Shikhar Insurance, declaring good dividend lured investors towards the sector,” said Narendra Raj Sijapati, managing director of Kalika Securities. 

Along with the Nepse index, the sensitive index that measures the performance of Group ‘A’ companies also rose 14.87 points to 395.13 points.

Sijapati attributed the surge in the sensitive index to investors’ attraction towards commercial banks’ stocks. “As banks, including Nepal Bangladesh Bank and Siddhartha Bank, are yet to declare their book close, investors rushed to buy their shares, pushing the index higher,” he added.

The surge in the Nepse index also increased the value of all the shares listed on exchange by Rs75.6 billion, with the market capitalisation reaching Rs2,016.33 billion.

Of the nine trading groups, seven posted gains last week. The insurance sub-index jumped a whopping 649.65 points to close at 9,351.12 points. Hotels followed with a growth of 235.94 points. Other gainers were commercial banks (up 62.3 points), development banks (up 45.75 points), finance companies (up 17.54 points), hydropower (up 16.59 points) and others (up 10.41 points).

The manufacturing sector (down 18.85 points) was the week’s sole loser, while trading remained stable at 202.79 points.

Last week, Shikhar Insurance observed the biggest turnover of Rs530.64 million, followed by Nepal Bangladesh Bank (Rs462.65 million). Bank of Kathmandu Lumbini, Everest Bank and Nepal Life Insurance rounded out the top five.

Sijapati said investors Shikhar’s announcement of 60 percent dividend lured investors towards its shares. In terms of the number of shares traded, Bank of Kathmandu Lumbini (564,000 units) topped the charts.

Along with the rise in the Nepse index, the turnover amount increased 6.85 percent to Rs4.75 billion.

The number of shares traded also increased to 5,511,360 units from 5,292,160. Shares of 158 listed companies were traded last week.