Kathmandu, February

There seems to be no stopping to the bull run at the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse), as the benchmark index hit another fresh all-time high today.

The benchmark index, which opened at 1251.42 points, gained 11.40 points, or 0.91 per cent, to end the day at 1262.82 points — a fresh record.

Nepse has been setting new records since January 17, as lack of investment opportunities due to supply disruptions has prompted investors to bet on stocks. Also, declining deposit and lending rates are drawing investors towards the stock market.

Although all the sub-indices ended up in green today, the market rally was led by banking and insurance sectors, shows the Nepse report.

Share price of Everest Bank rose by Rs 40 to Rs 2,380, while Nepal Investment Bank added Rs 27 to its stock value to close at Rs 899. Stock of Standard Chartered Bank Nepal too gained Rs 25 to end the day at Rs 2,760 and share price of Nabil Bank increased by Rs 18 to close at Rs 1,935.

Among insurance companies, stock of Shikhar Insurance soared by Rs 112 to Rs 1,645, Asian Life Insurance jumped by Rs 71 to Rs 1,371 and Siddhartha Insurance went up by Rs 49 to Rs 1,149. Similarly, stock value of NLG Insurance went up by Rs 42 to Rs 922; shares of Premier Insurance and Sagarmatha Insurance booked a profit of Rs 40 each to close at Rs 1,120 and Rs 1,110, respectively; and stock of Life Insurance Company gained Rs 15 to end the day at Rs 3,520.

The biggest gainer during today’s trading was Unilever Nepal Ltd, whose share price surged by a whopping Rs 540 to Rs 27,577.

Today, a total of 1.31 million stocks exchanged hands, with total trading amount standing at Rs 754.78 million. Nepse’s market capitalisation now stands at Rs 1,359.54 billion.