After posting heavy losses for two consecutive weeks, Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) last week jumped 66.46 points to close at 1,600.49 points.
The secondary market that opened at 1,534.03 points on Sunday fell 64.55 points to close the day at 1,469.48 points. On Monday, the market gained 40.68 points after shedding more than 4 percent in intra-day trading and closed at 1,510.16 points.
The recovery continued on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the index rising 43.52 points and 54.65 points, respectively, but lost 7.84 points on Thursday. Overall, the market closed the week 4.33 percent higher.
“As prices came down, investors, including a number of new ones, rushed to capitalise on the opportunity, boosting the demand,” said Dinesh Sapkota, managing director of Daksinkali Investment and Securities.
Along with the Nepse index, the sensitive index that measures the performance of Group ‘A’ companies gained 15.27 points to close at 346.44 points. The value of shares listed on the exchange soared by Rs74.25 billion, taking the capitalisation to Rs1,780.79 billion.
Of the nine trading groups, five posted gains. The insurance sub-index, up 209.28 points, led the gainers side. The sector had lost a whopping 1,148.14 points in the previous week. It was followed by commercial banks, which rose 88.64 points to close at close at 1,530.73 points. Other gainers were: Development banks (up 67.98 points), hydropower companies (up 53.1 points) and finance companies (up 13.49 points).
The group representing hotels (down 103.93 points) was the top loser last week. Manufacturing and ‘others’ also shed 29.93 points and 0.28 points, respectively. The trading group was non-mover at 203.91 points.
Everest Bank posted the biggest individual turnover of Rs721.06 million. Sapkota attributed the bank’s attractive return to its shareholders for investors’ rush to purchase its shares.
Shikhar Insurance stood second in terms of turnover amount (Rs326.59 million). Bank of Kathmandu Lumbini, Siddhartha Bank and National Life Insurance rounded out the top five.
With 437,000 units of its shares changing hands, Bank of Kathmandu Lumbini topped in terms of the number shares traded.
Last week, shares of 152 listed companies were traded. The overall market transaction rose 15.02 percent to Rs5.83 billion. The number of shares traded also increased to 7,461,310 units from 7,335,360.
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