Kathmandu, September 17

The domestic share market did not witness any massive volatility in the week of September 11 to 15, although the two days of public holidays capped the weekly transaction amount to Rs 3.76 billion.

Starting the trading week at 1,823.05 points on Sunday, the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index had shed 6.24 points by the day’s closing. The benchmark index inched up by 1.88 points on Monday. The country’s only secondary market remained closed on Tuesday as the country celebrated Eid al-Adha. The local bourse dropped 3.52 points on Wednesday to close at 1,815.17 points. The share market remained closed on Thursday in celebration of Indra Jatra. Week-on-week, Nepse index dipped by 7.88 points or 0.43 per cent.

Altogether, 6.42 million shares of 158 companies worth Rs 3.76 billion were traded through 18,526 transactions during the week. The traded amount was 55.97 per cent less than the preceding week when 41,805 transactions of 11.67 million scrips of 163 firms that amounted to Rs 8.52 billion had been undertaken. It has to be noted though that the share market had remained open for normal five days in the previous week.

The sensitive index, which gauges the performance of class ‘A’ stocks, fell by 1.69 points or 0.43 per cent to 393.88 points. Similarly, float index that measures the performance of shares actually traded also dipped by 0.61 points or 0.45 per cent to 135.54 points.

While trading remained stationary at 202.79 points, four of the subgroups clocked gains and four recorded losses.

Insurance subgroup led the pack of gainers by rising 117.78 points or 1.32 per cent to 9,063.13 points. Share value of Rastriya Beema Company surged by 5.91 per cent to Rs 16,295, that of Nepal Life by 2.25 per cent to Rs 3,773 and that of Life Insurance Co Nepal by 1.82 per cent to Rs 3,350.

Manufacturing slightly recouped the slump of the previous week as the sub-index went up by 7.57 points or 0.3 per cent to 2,497.45 points. This was on the back of Bottlers Nepal (Tarai)’s stock price going up by nearly two per cent to Rs 5,662.

Adding to the previous week’s gain of 2.48 per cent, hotels edged up 4.31 points or 0.19 per cent to 2,211.73 points. Even as Soaltee lost 0.48 per cent to close at Rs 410, the sub-index advanced because Oriental surged by 3.06 per cent to Rs 639 and Taragaon Regency rose by 1.82 per cent to Rs 280.

Development banks barely managed to land in the green, as the subgroup inched up by 0.06 point to 1,894.41 points.

In the meantime, continuing on its downward trajectory, others fell by 11.85 points or 1.51 per cent to 773.36 points, weighed down by Hydroelectricity Investment and Development Company’s share value plunging by 5.86 per cent to Rs 305 and Nepal Telecom shedding 0.14 per cent to Rs 688.

Banking dropped by 15.77 points or 0.9 per cent to 1,731.42 points. Stockholders of commercial banks like Nepal Investment saw their share price plummet by 4.94 per cent to Rs 828 and those of Himalayan drop by 1.25 per cent to Rs 1,654, among others.

After surging by 2.7 per cent in the previous week, hydropower reversed course this week around to drop 13.96 points or 0.57 per cent to 2,421.42 points. Finance shed 2.94 points or 0.35 per cent to close at 845.05 points.

Meanwhile, Muktinath Bikas Bank was the forerunner in terms of weekly turnover and number of transactions, recording 811 transactions that amounted to Rs 218.47 million.

The other companies that made it to the list of top-five in terms of transaction amount were Sunrise Bank with Rs 177.85 million, Nepal Bangladesh Bank with Rs 151.63 million, Prabhu Insurance with Rs 151.01 million and NIC Asia Bank with Rs 142.26 million.

NMB Sulav Investment Fund – I retained its top position with regards to trading volume, with 1.93 million of its scrips changing hands during the review period.