KATHMANDU, DECEMBER 3
The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index gained 27.51 points or 1.42 per cent to above the psychological threshold of 1,960 points between November 27 and December 1.
The end of elections, increasing remittance flow into the country and some positive steps taken by the regulatory bodies have boosted the investor sentiment, according to market analysts.
"Remittance is likely to increase further and the expenses made during the elections and the festive seasons have reached the banks.
People are not taking loans from the banks due to the high rate of interest. Also, Nepal Bankers' Association (NBA) has decided not to increase the interest rate further and the central bank has also committed to control liquidity crunch, indicating a decrease in interest rates. Although positive actions are being taken for the market's growth, the benchmark index will not spike immediately and will take its time," Chhote Lal Rauniyar, former president of Nepal Investors Forum, said.
"The stock prices of various companies have increased considerably over past few weeks. The market is improving gradually and will rise further after investors turn positive. This is the right time to make medium- or long-term value investment with compounding returns for people interested in the share market as it is in the red zone at present. Despite a turnover of less than Rs 550 million in the past, the market has remained above the 1,900 threshold. It is a clear indication that the market is likely to go up," he said.
The sensitive index, which measures the performance of class 'A' stocks, increased by 2.74 points or 0.72 per cent to 383.66 points inthe review period. The float index that gauges the performances of shares actually traded also rose by 2.84 per cent to 139.42 points.
Altogether 16.79 million shares were traded during the review week through 110,957 transactions that amounted to Rs 6.64 billion.
The weekly turnover increased by over 101 per cent compared to the previous trading week, when 9.17 million shares had changed hands through 60,614 transactions that totalled Rs 3.30 billion. It may be noted that the market was open for five days in the review week compared to only three days in the previous week. The average turnover in the review week stood at Rs 1.32 billion.
The benchmark index had opened at 1,933.55 points on Sunday and gained 32.43 points to 1,965.98 points by the time of closing.
The market lost 15.61 points on Monday to close at 1,950.37 points. On Tuesday, the benchmark gained 2.98 points to 1,953.35 points before decreasing by 3.20 points on the next day. On Thursday, the benchmark rose by 11.21 points to settle at 1,961.06 points for the week.
All of the sub-groups landed in the green this week apart from mutual funds, which fell by 0.81 per cent or 0.11 points.
The banking and trading subgroups gained 1.58 per cent and 2.60 per cent, respectively. Meanwhile, the manufacturing and processing increased by 0.85 per cent or 43.80 points, hotels and tourism by 0.32 per cent, others by 0.44 per cent, hydropower by one per cent, non-life insurance by 0.34 per cent, finance by 0.83 per cent, development banks by one per cent, microfinance by 3.57 per cent, life insurance by 1.81 per cent, mutual funds by 0.81 per cent and investment by 0.21 per cent in the review week.
A version of this article appears in the print on December 4, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.
