KATHMANDU: The market rally witnessed in the country’s only secondary market since Monday stretched for the third day in a row, with the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index advancing 2.16 points or 0.16 per cent to record a fresh high of 1,377.42 points by the day’s closing on Wednesday. The benchmark index had surged as high as 1,380.41 points in the initial trading hour before paring some of the gain, but managed to breach the previous peak of 1,377.33 points recorded on March 27. Banking, finance, insurance and manufacturing subgroups gained during the day, while hotels, development banks, hydropower and others sub-indexes landed in the red. Trading remained constant. Altogether 979,694 shares of 123 companies worth Rs 556.05 million were traded through 2,849 transactions during the day. The sensitive index inched up 0.13 per cent to 297.38 points, while the float index dipped 0.03 per cent to 98.87 points.