Himalayan News Service

Kathmandu, April 10:

Following several weeks of beatings, share trading at the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) this week registered a growth. The Nepse index rose by a 3.31 point. The growth in Nepse index this week follows straight falls for the past eight weeks. Share market insiders, however, say the growth is temporary and mainly due to better performance by the financial sector companies.

According to information provided by the Nepse, the index of the stock market went up to 194.71 points on Friday, from the opening of 191.40 points. The market had suffered a loss of 0.71 point last week and a massive 11.75 points, a week before that. Group-wise analysis reveals that the commercial bank group has been able to continue its last week’s growth. Insurance and the finance groups, too, registered growth in their respective indices. The largest scrip in the secondary market — the commercial banks group, has gained with a 4.83 points, against last week’s growth of a 0.33 point. The Nepse index of the group went up to 187.16 points from the opening of 182.33 points on Monday.

Likewise, the insurance group managed a growth of 3.45 points. The group, which had gained last week too, opened at 237.16 points on Monday and closed at 240.61 points on Friday. The finance group’s index climbed up to 198.17 points from the opening 197.34 points on Monday. The group had lost last week.

The development bank group lost by 0.68 point, as its index slipped to 188.50 points on Friday from the opening 189.18 points. The other group, trading group, the manufacturing group and the hotel group, however, remained constant throughout the week at 141.35 points, 94.29 points, 265.92 points and 181.43 points respectively. Of these, the manufacturing group had gained last week and the other and the trading groups had remained constant, while the hotel group had lost. Although the share market gained in trading index, weekly trading in terms of number of share units and monetary value decreased this week. A total of 37,728 share units worth Rs 83,84, 433 were traded through 1,398 transactions, against last week’s trading of 63,852 share units through 2,605 transactions at Rs 1,34,96,582.

Meanwhile, out of the listed 56 companies for five-day trading, 37 companies saw transaction during the week. Like the previous weeks, the commercial bank group dominated the Nepse floor, as it captured the largest chunk of the total share trading. It captured 53.02 per cent of the total trading followed by the finance group with 40.79 per cent. The insurance group was in the third position with 3.07 per cent market share, whereas the development bank group cornered 1.95 per cent and the hotel group contributed 1.19 per cent. Janaki Finance Company Ltd topped the weekly trading race in terms of number of transaction and share units. A total of 11,420 ordinary shares of the company were traded through 600 transactions during the week. While, Standard Chartered Bank Nepal secured the first position in terms of weekly traded monetary value with Rs 20,27,420.

Shares of Standard Chartered Bank Nepal, Nepal Bangladesh Bank, Everest Bank Ltd, NIC Bank Ltd, Credit Development Bank, Nepal-Sri Lanka Merchant Bank and Standard Finance Ltd were traded throughout the week.