Kathmandu, February 27

Despite talks doing the rounds now that Yubaraj Khatiwada will continue as the finance minister, the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index hit a 30-month high and the daily turnover crossed an eye-popping Rs 4.46 billion for the first time.

The country’s sole secondary market witnessed record buying pressure today. The market soared by 2.26 per cent or 36.05 points to close at 1,632.17 points. The sensitive index also rose by 3.46 per cent or 11.63 points to 347.68 points and float index went up by 2.67 per cent or 3.01 points to 115.70 points.

The last time the secondary market was at this level was on August 16, 2017 when the benchmark index had closed at 1,632.66 points.

Altogether, 10.86 million shares of 180 companies were traded through 35,467 transactions today that amounted to Rs 4.46 billion.

Share investors have said that the market is in a bullish trend as the banking subgroup — sub-index with the highest weightage in the share market — has been rising persistently in the recent days. “The availability of margin loans and the government’s positive comments on the share market have boosted the sentiment of investors, which has led to this surge in the stock market,” said Radha Pokharel, chairperson of Nepal Puzibazar Laganikarta Sangh.

She further said that the market will keep hitting new records in the coming days.

While three sub-indices rose today, the remaining were in the red zone.

The share value of companies listed under banking, development banks and manufacturing subgroups surged notably. Everest Bank faced a circuit-breaker as its share price soared by 10 per cent — the upper limit for a single day.

Banking was the highest gainer today, soaring by 6.14 per cent or 83.29 points to 1,440.15 points. Similarly, development banks rose by 1.91 per cent or 38.65 points to 2,063.70 points and manufacturing sub-index ascended by 0.51 per cent or 16.45 points to 3,243.16 points.

Meanwhile, trading subgroup was the biggest loser today, dropping by 4.88 per cent or 48.43 points to 943.79 points. The non-life insurance subindex descended by 2.82 per cent or 213.39 points to 7,355.16 points.

Others subgroup went down by 2.74 per cent or 22.53 points to 799.42 points. The microfinance subgroup too fell by 2.01 per cent or 56.35 points to 2,747.30 points and hydropower dipped by 1.91 per cent or 21.5 points to 1,102.30 points.

The life insurance subgroup descended by 1.66 per cent or 164.63 points to land at 9,741.31 points.

Likewise, mutual funds sub-index slipped by 1.5 per cent or 0.16 point to 10.76 points and hotels edged down by 1.36 per cent or 27.62 points to 2,007.78 points and finance subgroup dropped by 1.18 per cent or 8.52 points to 712.66 points.

Share value of Everest Bank soared by 10 per cent to Rs 880. Nepal SBI Bank went up by 9.94 per cent to Rs 542, Himalayan Bank by 9.92 per cent to Rs 698, Nabil Bank by 9.77 per cent to Rs 955 and Womi Microfinance Bittiya Sanstha by 9.31 per cent to Rs 1,350. Among the top losers, Ngadi Group Power’s share price dropped by 6.71 per cent to Rs 139 and Synergy Power Development went down by 6.50 per cent to Rs 115.