The gains were muted as investors dumped banking, hydropower and hotels’ stocks to book profits. A large number of investors, however, continued buying shares they perceived as a value proposition.

‘The sellers sold shares in big numbers, which pared the overall gains. But, on the whole, the sentiments remain positive,” a broker said.

The market may remain in a consolidation phase over the next few weeks before a sustained rally can push the index past 1,450, a critical support level, market participants say. Investor sentiment strengthened after the market index breached the critical 1,300 level during the third week of the current year.

The focus of investors since the beginning of 2020 appears to have shifted to stocks that can be held over the long-term and can generate good dividends.

The NEPSE index closed on Thursday at 1,344.59, up from 1,333.69 the previous week. The total turnover on Thursday rose to Rs1,773,805,746 from Rs1,049,345,436 the previous Thursday.

The total number of shares traded on the market, on Thursday, stood at 3,720,092. There were 17,698 transactions in all and as many as 172 company stocks got traded. At the end of the trading last week, the total market capitalisation stood at Rs1,715,727.10 million from Rs1,701,040.41, a week earlier.

On Thursday, Himalayan Distillery Limited was the top traded stock in terms of value, while Shivam Cements Ltd’s shares were the most traded by volume.

The market sentiments in recent weeks have been buoyed by the biggest merger in Nepal’s banking sector between Global IME and Janata Bank.

Market participants cite lack of liquidity as their biggest concern and the primary reason for the domestic stock market’s underperformance.