The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) topped Wednesday’s record to hit an all-time high of 1,221.30 points on Thursday, due mainly to a rush for shares of banks and financial institutions (BFIs). The index inched down later in the day to close at 1,200.92 points.

The last time the Nepse had soared to such heights was on August 31, 2008 when it reached 1,175.38 points.

Despite the political turmoil rocking the country over disagreements on the delineation of the proposed provinces, particularly in the Tarai, the stock market has been on a steady rise since Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) ordered BFIs to ramp up their paid-up capital.

Investors have also been enthused by Nepse’s move making it mandatory for transactions of shares of banks to be conducted online.

Stock market expert Rabindra Bhattarai said the Nepse could keep rising for a time. “As the market has crossed the resistance

point now, it is likely to go up for a few more days before witnessing a market correction,” he said.

All the sub-indices except the hydropower group recorded heady growth. The manufacturing group gained 22.98 points to top the list, followed by hotels and others.

Thursday’s turnover amounted to Rs773.14 million with 1,612,264 shares changing hands. Investors gained Rs10 billion in a single day’s trading with the rise in share values.

According to Nepse, the market capitalisation on Thursday rose to Rs1,237 billion from Rs1,227 billion of the previous day.