Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) on Sunday closed at a record high of 1,509.39 points.

It also posted the highest ever single-day transaction of Rs1.24 billion, breaking the previous record of Rs1.2 billion reached on July 22, 2014.

The market has been witnessing a bull run for the last few months, especially after the enforcement of the demat system of share transaction on January 15. It has been recording average daily turnover of Rs80 million for the last one and half months. 

On Thursday, the market once rose to 1,507 points, before closing at 1,499.32 points. On Sunday too, the market peaked to 1,510.34 points in the first few hours of trading before closing just below 1,500.

Investors and stockbrokers attributed the rise to the upcoming budget for the next fiscal year, which is expected to put in place policy to boost economy and strengthen the capital market. The government will present the budget on May 28.

Aatma Ram Ghimire, president of Investors’ Forum, said investors are expecting policies to strengthen the capital market in the budget. Besides, easy availability of cheaper loans amid access liquidity of banks and good financial results of a number of companies contributed to the rise, he said.

Ghimire, however, cautioned the new investors should not take risks, terming the current surge as “rumour run”. “As new investors may not be well aware of the market fluctuation, they could face huge financial losses if the market takes a downturn,” he said. 

Narendra Raj Sijapati, managing director of Kalika Securities, said the major factor boosting the investor confidence is the upcoming budget, which has resulted in high demand. “Also, prospective sellers are in wait-and-see mode,” he said.

The day’s top gainer was the group representing insurance companies (up 336.82 points).

A total of 2,823,720 units of shares of 135 companies changed hands and the market capitalisation rose to Rs1,628 billion.