KATHMANDU, JULY 28
The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) closed with a significant gain of 113.42 points, or 4.41%, today, reflecting turbulent yet positive investor sentiment.
The market witnessed two positive circuit breaks, indicating strong upward momentum that almost led to an early closure on the first trading day of the week. Despite an hour of halts in the trading, the NEPSE index surged to 2,681.56 points by the end of the trading day.
Trading Halts and Market Movement
The market saw a 4% rise, equivalent to 102 points, within a minute of opening at 11:00 am, triggering the first circuit break at 11:01 am. This resulted in a 20-minute trading halt.
Trading resumed at 11:21 am, and within another minute, the market surged another 1%, resulting in a total increase of 5% or 129 points from the previous day, leading to the second halt at 11:22 am for 40 minutes.
According to NEPSE regulations, a 20-minute halt occurs after a 4% movement within an hour, a 40-minute halt for a 5% movement within two hours, and a market closure for the day if a 6% movement occurs at any time.
Post-resumption, the market fluctuated but did not trigger a third circuit break. The index reached a high of 2,708.58 points at 12:04 pm but dropped to 2,624.77 points at 12:14 pm. It rebounded to 2,658.4 points at 12:27 PM before fluctuating again and falling to 2,624.5 points at 1:05 pm. Eventually, the market climbed steadily, reaching its closing value as the final bell rang.
Indices Performance
Along with the upward trajectory of the benchmark index, the sensitive index, evaluating the performance of class 'A' stocks, rose by 5.82%, while the float index, gauging actively traded shares, rose by 5.03%.
Impact of New Monetary Policy
The positive sentiment followed the release of a market-conducive monetary policy by the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) on Friday. The policy removed the Rs 200 million limit for institutional investors on share mortgage loans, contributing to the market's surge. However, the limit for individual investors remained unchanged. According to stakeholders, the monetary policy is satisfactory and stock market conducive, raising investor interest in the stock market.
Daily Turnover
As the trading was halted for the first time, the total market turnover had reached Rs 272 million from the exchange of 556,593 units of shares. By the second trading halt, the daily turnover had reached Rs 524 million from the exchange of 1,300,205 units of shares of 244 companies in 4,733 transactions.
Despite these halts, the daily turnover reached Rs 15.81 billion, a notable increase from Rs 14 billion on Friday. A total of 40,314,517 units of shares from 318 companies were exchanged in 163,810 transactions.
Sector Performance
Despite the positive sentiment in the market, the Microfinance sector was the only sector to record a loss today, dropping by 0.18%, with Ganapati Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited (GMFBS) experiencing a 9.35% fall.
However, the rest of the sectors were all in the green. The banking sector led the gainers with a massive 9.89% increase, followed by the investment sector (5.75%), Development Bank sector (4.87%), and Life Insurance sector (4.24%).
The Others sector recorded a 3.19% gain, while the Non-Life Insurance sector gained 2.68%. The Hydropower and Hotels & Tourism sectors recorded minimal gains of 0.83% and 0.46%, respectively.
Individual Stock Performance
In terms of individual stock performance, 148 companies advanced, 87 declined, and eight remained unchanged.
Twelve companies, including NIMB, SBI, SANIMA, NMB, PRVU, GBIME, CZBIL, PCBL, ADBL, NBL, ULBSL, and HATHY, experienced a 10% increase in their share prices. The top ten gainers were commercial banks, with the 11th being a microfinance company and the 12th an investment firm.
Kumari Bank Limited (KBL) led in turnover and volume, with 1,706,582 units of shares traded for Rs 361,000,898.40 in 3,494 transactions. Its last traded price (LTP) was Rs 212.40. Himalayan Reinsurance Limited (HRL) was the top company in terms of transactions, with its scrips traded in 3,765 transactions.
The total market capitalization stood at Rs 4.254 trillion.
Today's trading session reflected overwhelmingly positive investor sentiment, driven by favorable regulatory changes and market dynamics.
