Kathmandu, August 6:

Nepal Stock Exchange Ltd (Nepse) today hit yet another historic high of 1128.13 points, a rise by 26.03 points or 2.36 per cent from yesterday’s closing of 1102.1 points, which also was a record.

Today was the third consecutive day that Nepse kept scaling new highs. It saw trading for only about half an hour today and suspended trading —two-and-a-half hours before the normal trading duration of three hours.

Led by Nepal Investment Bank Ltd (NIBL), the commercial banks group pushed Nepse to

its new high. NIBL gained Rs 327 per unit share today followed by Everest Bank with a Rs 172 per unit share increase. The commercial banks group added 36.51 points or 3.13 per cent to 1204.79 points.

Despite Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) and Nepse’s regular warnings, investors are not worried about the sustainability of the increase in Nepse. A fresh rise is expected tomorrow also.

Meanwhile, Nepse suspended trading of Siddhartha Development Bank Ltd’s (SDBL) shares owing to its contradictory report.

“Earlier, the annual general meeting of SDBL had decided to give 1:5 rights shares to its investors, but given the discrepancy the Board of Directors (BoD) has decided to distribute only 1:1 rights shares to its shareholders,” states a Nepse release.

New Sebon rule

KATHMANDU: Sebon has directed investors to mention their bank accounts, if they are applying for an initial public offerings (IPOs) worth more than Rs 10,000. “The directive will come into effect from Wednesday,” said Dr Chiranjivi Nepal, chairman of the board. The money — when returned to investors after the allotment of shares — should be paid through account payee cheques, the new directive said. Similarly, money collected by the collection centres and deposited at bankers to the issue should be deposited in an account in the Nepal Rastra Bank within five days of the closing of IPOs for a minimum of six days, Nepal said adding that the capital market is expected to become more transparent after the new directive. — HNS