KATHMANDU, AUGUST 20

Despite some high anticipation of the share market's growth following the introduction of the new Monetary Policy for fiscal year 2022-23, Nepal Stocks Exchange (Nepse) index is lower than it was compared to the end of July when the market index stood at 2,195.10 points.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index rose by 30.34 points or 1.49 per cent to settle at 2,068.26 points during the trading week from August 14 to 18.

Kumar Keshar Bista, a share analyst, said that the market is driven by 90 per cent of investors who make investment decisions based on the predictions of technical analysts.

'Earlier, technical analysts projected that the market will take a northward trajectory if the index crosses the 2,056-point mark or witness a southbound outlook if the index drops to 2,035 points. Majority of the investors in the market rely on such predictions and start selling shares despite very little profit, causing a risk for fundamental investors,' Bista explained.

Bista is, however, positive about the market improving in upcoming days.

'With the deadline for investors to lower their arrears below Rs 120 million within August 23, many investors have adjusted their loan-related procedures and share transactions. As a result, there will be less sellers in the market and we could see a positive outlook in the coming days,' he added.

The sensitive index, which measures performance of class 'A' stocks, increased by 2.15 per cent or 8.41 points to 400.08 points in the review period.

Similarly, the float index that gauges performance of shares actually traded gained 1.36 per cent to 142.35 points.

Altogether 25.59 million shares were traded during the trading week through 192,477 transactions that amounted to Rs 10.50 billion. The weekly turnover was 12 per cent lower than the previous week when 30.21 million shares had changed hands through 207,480 transactions that totalled Rs 12.04 billion.

The benchmark index had opened at 2,037.92 points on Sunday and decreased by 27.91 points to close at 2,010.01 points for the day. The market gained 55.88 points on Monday to close at 2,065.89 points before falling 24.83 points to 2,041.06 points on Tuesday. On Wednesday, the benchmark index lost 0.36 points to 2,040.70 points and rose by 27.56 points to 2,068.26 points on Thursday. The country's sole secondary market remained closed on Friday in celebration of Krishna Janmasthami.

Indices of manufacturing and processing, life insurance, mutual funds and investment subgroups landed in the red this week. The banking sub-index increased by 0.62 per cent or 8.42 points, hotels and tourism by 2.00 per cent or 54.69 points, others by 6.54 per cent or 95.68 points, hydropower by 2.81 per cent or 68.40 points, trading by 1.16 per cent or 24.49 points, non-life insurance by 1.85 percent or 149.96 points, finance by 5.49 per cent or 95.93 points, development banks by 5.10 per cent or 185.05 points, microfinance by 1.96 per cent or 90.47 points.

Meanwhile, the sub-indices of manufacturing and processing fell by 3.93 per cent or 8.42 points, life insurance by 1.60 per cent or 153.58 points, mutual funds by 0.34 per cent or 0.05 points and investment by 0.31 per cent or 0.21 points over the review week.

A version of this article appears in the print on August 21, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.