Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, July 3:

Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index posted a growth by 3.34 points this week, due to a healthy trading registered by the commercial bank group, along with other financial sector group. According to Nepal Stock Exchange Ltd (NSEL), the index went up to 220.75 points on Friday, from the opening 217.41 points on Monday. The group-wise analysis reveals that the commercial bank group continued its bullish trend which resulted in overall growth of the stock market. The hotel and finance groups, too, contributed to the growth. However, the insurance group this week could not perform satisfactorily and the remaining groups remained constant throughout the week. The commercial bank group, the largest scrip in the capital market gained 5.30 points. The Nepse index of the group closed at 230.71 points from the opening 225.41 points on Monday.

The hotel group registered an increment of 0.57 points, as its index went up to 182.68 points on the closing day from 182.11 points on Monday. Likewise, the finance group’s index closed at 195.18 points on Friday from the opening 194.63 points. However, the insurance group is the sole loser this week, as its Nepse index tumbled by 2.61 points. The insurance group’s index had opened at 239.17 points on Monday and settled down at 236.56 points on the closing day, Friday. The manufacturing group, the other group, the trading group and the development bank group, however, remained constant throughout the week at 252.79 points, 142.65 points, 95.01 points and 190.37 points respectively. Like the previous weeks, the commercial bank group dominated the Nepse floor as it captured the largest chunk of the total share trading. It captured 86.24 per cent of the total trading followed by the development bank group at 13 per cent.

While, the finance group was in the third position with 11.13 per cent market share, the insurance group cornered 1.43 per cent. The manufacturing group and hotel group each contributed 0.71 per cent and the trading group had a share of 0.19 per cent.

Despite increment of Nepse index against last week, market capitalisation and number of shares declined as compared to the last week. A total of 212,416 share units valued at Rs 43,603,840 were traded through 2,727 transactions, against last week’s trading of 282,639 shares through 2,786 transactions at Rs 123,339,252. Meanwhile, out of 60 listed companies in five-day long trading, only 55 companies saw transaction this week.

Laxmi Bank Ltd, this week too, was the front-runner in all aspects including largest number of transaction, share units and traded monetary value. A total of 106,690 shares of the bank worth Rs 14,225,360 were traded through 1,631 transactions this week. The bank is continuously topping the chart for a couple of weeks. The shares of Nabil Bank Ltd, Himalayan Bank Ltd, Nepal SBI Bank, Nepal Bangladesh Bank, Everest Bank Ltd, Bank of Kathmandu, NIC Bank Ltd, Machhapuchre Bank Ltd, Laxmi Bank Ltd, Nepal Life Insurance Co, International Leasing and Finance Co, Nepal Sri Lanka Merchant Bank, and Cosmic Merchant Finance, were traded throughout the week. The Nepse floor remained open for all five working days this week.