KATHMANDU, FEBRUARY 07
Opening at 2,475.26 points, the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index had sailed past the threshold of 2,500 points in less than an hour of trading. By the time of closing, the benchmark index had jumped 1.97 per cent or 48.74 points to settle at 2,524.00 points.
Altogether 17.74 million shares of 201 companies changed hands through 87,670 transactions that amounted to a whopping Rs 10.44 billion today.
The daily turnover was also the highest on the record, breaking the previous all-time high of nearly Rs 9.90 on January 28.
The sensitive index, which measures the performance of class 'A' stocks, rose by 1.17 per cent or 5.3 points to 459.32 points. The float index that gauges the performance of shares actually traded also went up by 1.82 per cent or 3.06 points to 171.14 points.
Apart from mutual funds, development banks and banking sectors, all the subgroups recorded gains today.
Microfinance led the pack of gainers, surging by 7.76 per cent or 334.25 points to 4,640.62 points.
Life insurance topped the chart in terms of points gained, with the sub-index soaring by 572.11 points or 3.16 per cent to 18,649.98 points.
Mutual funds landed at the bottom of the list, with the subgroup dropping by 0.31 per cent or 0.04 point to 12.03 points.
Share price of eight listed companies surged by their daily limit of 10 per cent today.
The share value of 132 companies rose, that of 19 companies remained stable and of the remaining 50 fell today.
According to market analysts, easy access to margin loans, ample liquidity and lack of other investment avenues has pulled investors to the share market of late.
Ambika Prasad Poudel, president of the Capital Market Forum of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI), expressed happiness at the new records set in the share market. He took to the social media to congratulate the share investors for crossing the historic milestone today.
A version of this article appears in the print on February 8, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
