Kathmandu, May 19

The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index hit a fresh high today, only 0.68 point shy of breaching the 1,500-point threshold, as investors have flocked to the secondary market to reap the benefits of the bullish trend.

The benchmark index rose by 0.19 per cent or 2.91 points to 1,499.32 points today. The share market has been on a continuous bull-run since Tuesday of this week.

“It is a seasonal phenomenon,” said Rabindra Bhattarai, a stock market analyst. “The sound performance of the commercial banks in the third quarter of this fiscal despite unfavourable economic situation in the country has elevated the confidence of investors.”

Normally, the market witnesses a bullish trend from mid-April to mid-August, as per Bhattarai.

Lately, investors have mostly scooped up the shares of commercial banks in the secondary market as Nepal Rastra Bank has required that they increase their paid-up capital by four folds.

Prakash Rajaure, general secretary of Nepal Stock Investors Association, stated that the market has been mostly northbound in the recent days due to the confidence of buyers.

“Buyers are confident about making profit from the bullish trend of the market,” he said, adding, “Moreover, added benefits like bonus, merger of companies, among others have also lured investors to the share market.”

However, he opined that the market is nearing saturation, mostly because of short-term investors looking to make a quick buck.

The bull run seen in the stock market today was led by the insurance sector. The insurance sub-index increased by 33.92 points or 0.48 per cent to 7,170.31 points.

In terms of total turnover, the banking sector topped all the subgroups, with total traded amount of Rs 454.40 million. Banking sector sub-index went up by 1.34 points or 0.1 per cent to 1,410.21 points.

All the sub-indices, except manufacturing and production, witnessed gains today. Sub-indices of development banks, hydropower, finance and hotels rose by 0.46 per cent to 1,477.35 points, 0.39 per cent to 2,260.36 points, 0.82 per cent to 728.24 points and 0.18 per cent to 1,951.82 points, respectively.

However, the manufacturing and production subgroup landed in the red today, as it dipped by 1.54 per cent to 2,218.39 points. The sub-indices of others and trading remained constant at 775.38 points and 201.38 points, respectively.

In total, 1.96 million shares of 134 companies worth Rs 1.09 billion were traded through 5,345 transactions today. The sensitive index, which gauges the performance of class ‘A’ stocks, rose 0.2 per cent to 324.44 points.

Likewise, the float index that measures the performance of shares actually traded also went up 0.28 per cent to 109.24 points.

Kabeli Bikas Bank, Pacific Development Bank, Professional Diyalo Bikas Bank, Saptakosi Development Bank and Century Commercial Bank were the top gainers today. Nepal Life Insurance Company topped the list in terms of high turnover worth Rs 98.59 million.