Kathmandu, December 29

As the government has addressed some issues raised by share investors, the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index soared in the trading week between December 23 and 27. The index rose by 4.22 per cent or 49.22 points.

“The government has addressed the primary demands of stock investors. The main thing is the government has recognised investment in the stock market as a business product,” said Uttam Aryal, chairman of Investors Association of Nepal. “There is no reason now for the secondary market to go down except for the fact that there is not enough money to invest in shares.”

Along with the Nepse index, the sensitive index also increased by 4.27 per cent or 10.60 points to 258.66 points and float index went up by 4.14 per cent or 3.52 points to at 88.84 points.

In the review period, weekly turnover increased by 77.34 per cent as compared to the previous week to Rs 3.92 billion. In the previous week the market witnessed turnover of Rs 2.21 billion. Likewise, the daily average turnover also went up to Rs 785.73 million, which was an increment of 77.34 per cent in comparison to the previous week when it stood at Rs 443.06 million.

The secondary market had opened at 1,165.96 points on Sunday and went up by 32.22 points by end of the trading day. On Monday, the market reserved course and fell by 6.44 points. It again went down by 5.23 points the next day. However, on Wednesday, the market witnessed substantial gain of 29.73 points but immediately the next day it inched down by 1.08 points to close the week at 1,215.16 points.

In the review week, only the trading sub-index landed in the red zone dropping by 0.28 per cent or 0.68 point to land at 236.76 points.

The life insurance subgroup led the team of gainers in the week, surging by 16.65 per cent or 900.16 points to 6,307.64 points. Share price of National Life Insurance hiked up by Rs 160 to Rs 1,155. Similarly, the non-life insurance sub-index went up by 8.82 per cent or 469.57 points to 5,796.15 points as the share price of Everest Insurance ascended by Rs 108 to

Rs 874.

Likewise, microfinance subgroup increased by 6.92 per cent or 91.49 points to 1,414.28 points. Share price of Laxmi Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha rose by Rs 98 to Rs 835.

Moreover, others subgroup also went up by 6.48 per cent or 46.99 points to 772.61 points due to Nepal Telecom’s share value rising by Rs 13 to Rs 797. Likewise, the finance sub-index hiked up by 2.18 per cent or 13 points to 607.89 points and the hydropower subgroup expanded by 2.18 per cent or 26.25 points to 1,228.77 points.

Meanwhile, banking sub-index increased by 2.13 per cent or 21.91 points to 1,047.82 points with the share price of Standard Chartered Bank up by Rs 10 to Rs 623.

The manufacturing sub-index also ascended by 1.16 per cent or 25.98 points to 2,262.27 points and the development banks subgroup rose by 1.15 per cent or 16.81 points to 1,484.65 points. The hotels sub-group too went up by 0.68 per cent or 11.75 points to 1,720.12 points.

In the review week, NMB Bank was the leader in terms of weekly turnover with Rs 229.92 million. It was followed by Nepal Life Insurance with Rs 224.20 million, Nepal Bank with Rs 220.06 million, Nepal Investment Bank with Rs 155.44 million and Global IME Bank with Rs 125.48 million.

In terms of weekly trading volume, Nepal Bank took the lead with 711,000 of its shares changing hands. NMB Bank with 612,000 shares, Prime Commercial Bank with 560,000 shares, Sunrise Bank with 495,000 shares and NCC Bank with 449,000 shares were other top firms to record high trading volume.

Meanwhile, NMB Bank topped the chart in terms of number of transactions — 1,979. It was followed by Nepal Investment Bank with 1,677, Nepal Life Insurance with 1,425, Global IME Bank with 1,056 and Nepal Bank with 933 transactions.