Kathmandu, January 11

Share investors’ sentiment got a major boost in the trading week between January 5 and 9 after the government announced that it will promote the stock market, causing all the major indicators to rise noticeably and the daily turnover to improve significantly.

A few days ago, Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada and newly elected Chairman of Securities Board of Nepal (SEBON) Bhisma Raj Dhungana had publicly announced that they will collectively support the growth of the secondary market.

While Minister Khatiwada had said the stock market has more or less stabilised, Dhungana had emphasised that SEBON will play a positive role in improving the secondary market to make it a vibrant mirror of the economy.

While taking the oath as the chairman of the board, he said he will make timely reforms in the entire secondary market and implement the 58-point secondary market reform plan that was prepared by Nepal Rastra Bank.

Radha Pokharel, chairperson of Nepal Pujibazar Laganikarta Sangh, said the market surged on the comments about market movement by the finance minister. “We had been waiting for such positive cues from the finance minister since the last two years.”

She further said the easy availability of margin loans had also aided in the rebound of the share market and expressed hope the secondary market will gather momentum in the coming days.

In the review week, Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index surged by 4.02 per cent or 46.90 points to months-high. The sensitive index also jumped by 4.79 per cent or 12.08 points to 264.27 points and float index advanced by 4.34 per cent or 3.75 points to 90.16 points.

The weekly turnover ascended by 76.63 per cent as compared to the previous week to Rs 4.22 billion. In the previous week, the market had witnessed total transactions worth Rs 2.39 billion. The trading volume also accelerated, with 14.68 million stocks changing hands in the review week against 7.18 million in the previous week.

The benchmark index had opened on Sunday at 1,166.22 points and gone up by 16.21 points by the end of the first trading day.

On Monday, Nepse index gained 18.26 points and breached the psychological level of 1,200 points for the first time since dropping below the level on August 28. After adding another 16.23 points on Tuesday, the local bourse dropped by 7.32 points on Wednesday due to profit booking. However, the index recouped some of the loss the next day by inching up 3.51 points to close the week at 1,213.12 points.

In the review week, microfinance, banking, non-life insurance, development banks, finance, mutual funds, hydropower, life insurance and others sub-indices recorded gains.

Microfinance subgroup was the biggest gainer of the review week, soaring by 11.13 per cent or 186.93 points to 1,866.41 points. This was due to share price of Chhimek Laghubitta Bikas Bank ascending by Rs 46 to Rs 856. Banking sub-index elevated by 4.73 per cent or 48.99 points to 1,085.01 points, with share price of commercial banks like Himalayan up Rs 43 to Rs 544 and that of Standard Chartered Nepal jumping by Rs 27 to Rs 565.

Non-life insurance subgroup went up by 3.98 per cent or 180.11 points to 4,704.30 points as share value of Everest Insurance increased by Rs 11 to Rs 279.

Development banks ascended by 3.76 per cent or 56.87 points to 1,647.45 points. Among others, Jyoti Bikas Bank’s share price rose by seven rupees to Rs 156. Finance subgroup rose by 2.74 per cent or 15.63 points to 585.10 points and mutual funds sub-index increased by 2.16 per cent or 0.20 point to 9.48 points.

Hydropower gained 2.15 per cent or 20.11 points to 954.65 points; life insurance sub-index went up by 1.79 per cent or 104.87 points to 5,967.45 points; and others subgroup inched up by 0.86 per cent or 5.61 points to 657.33 points.

Meanwhile, trading subgroup dropped by 1.20 per cent or 8.23 points to 674.55 points. Hotels sub-index fell by 0.98 per cent or 18.85 points to 1,902.14 points and manufacturing sub- group dipped by 0.52 per cent or 12.57 points to 2,399.76 points.

In the review week, Machhapuchchhre Bank was the leader in terms of weekly turnover with Rs 265.79 million.

It was followed by NIC Asia Bank with Rs 250.32 million, Civil Bank (Promoter Share) with Rs 201.87 million, Shivam Cements with Rs 136.51 million and Grameen Bikas Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha with Rs 127.54 million.

In terms of weekly trading volume, Shivam Cements was the forerunner with 1,196,000 of its shares changing hands. It was followed by NIC Asia Bank with 575,000 shares, Prabhu Bank with 499,000 shares, Grameen Bikas Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha with 356,000 shares and NCC Bank with 354,000 shares.

Meanwhile, NIC Asia Bank topped the chart in terms of number of transactions with 1,724 transactions.

It was followed by Grameen Bikas Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha with 1,452, Shivam Cements with 1,265, NMB Bank with 1,248 and Rasuwagadhi Hydropower with 1,199 transactions.