The secondary market, which opened at 1,036.98 points on Sunday, fell 8.04 points on Monday, the day after budget presentation. The index, however, posted gains on Wednesday and Thursday. The biggest single-day gain was observed on Wednesday when the index rose 10.42 points.

Parmeshwor Bhakta Malla of Malla & Malla Stock Brokering Company attributed the the rise in the index to good macroeconomic indicators reflected in the budget document. “Although the budget failed to address the main issues, like replacing capital gain tax by transaction tax, the country’s good macroeconomic position helped market grow.”

Seven out of nine trading groups registered gains. Hydro-power companies, up 48.03 points, led the gainers side comprising insurance companies, hotels, development banks, others, commercial banks and trading.

Malla said investors’ attraction towards some insurance companies that are yet to distribute dividend helped push the sub-index up. However, the monetary policy’s provision to tighten up screw on margin lending could pull the market down. Only two groups, manufacturing (down 12.97 poin-ts) and finance companies (down 0.16 points), witnessed losses.

The sensitive index, which measures the performance of blue chips, surged 2.04 points to close at 224.53 points.

Chilime Hydropower Company posted the largest individual transaction of Rs 366.32 million. Nepal Bank, National Hydropower Company, Global IME Bank and Standard Chartered Bank rounded out the top five in terms of transaction worth. National Hydropower topped in terms of the number of shares traded (673,000 units).

Despite the rise in index, the market turnover fell 28.61 percent to Rs 3.19 billion. The number of traded shares too fell to 6,957,980 from 9,377,720. Nepse listed bonus shares of Kanchan Development Bank, Purnima Development Bank, Alliance Insurance, Himalayan Bank, Kumari Bank and Araniko Development Bank. Rights shares of Sirjana Finance, Asian Life Insurance and Bishwa Bikas Bank were also listed.