Kathmandu, September 12

With a majority of the stock investors adopting a cautious stance, the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index dipped 0.69 point or 0.06 per cent week-on-week to settle at 1,168.71 points, from September 6 to 10.

Varied opinions related to the latest monetary policy of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), which requires banks and financial institutions to prop up their paid-up capital by up to four folds within two years, continue to act as a dampener on the sentiment of stock investors, as per stock analysts. However, with most traders in wait-and-see mode, the stock market did not witness any massive volatility.

The stock market opened on Sunday with Nepse at 1,169.4 points. By the day’s closing, the benchmark index had dipped 2.71 points. Nepse more than recovered the loss on Monday by edging up by 4.28 points and added another 3.72 points on Tuesday.

However, on Wednesday and Thursday, it retreated by 1.53 and 4.45 points, respectively.

Altogether 5.46 million units of shares of 162 companies worth Rs 2.17 billion were traded in the country’s only secondary market during the week.

The traded amount was 13.85 per cent less than the preceding week when 10,929 transactions of 4.05 million scrips of 161 listed firms amounting to Rs 2.54 billion had been undertaken.

The sensitive index, which gauges the performance of class ‘A’ stocks, inched up by 0.57 point to 252.25 points. Similarly, the float index also added a minimal 0.12 point to close at 82.96 points during the review period.

Trading was the only subgroup to hold steady at 206.99 points, while insurance, hydropower, hotels and others subgroups landed in the red.

Similar to the previous week, manufacturing reigned as the top gainer and rose by 1.27 per cent to 2,143.65 points. Unilever’s share price surged by Rs 1,000 to Rs 31,000, but the gain on the sub-index was offset by Himalayan Distillery’s share price slumping by Rs 107 to Rs 604.

Banking, the subgroup with the highest stake in market capitalisation of Nepse, ascended by 0.87 per cent to 1,099.38 points. Stock price of Nepal Investment Bank went up by Rs 25 to Rs 1,025 and of Himalayan Bank by Rs 93 to Rs 1,343, among others.

Finance and development banks gained 0.89 per cent to 556.59 points and 0.87 per cent to 938.58 points, respectively.

Hotels sagged by 4.48 per cent to 1,910.55 points, with Soaltee’s stock price dropping by Rs 25 to Rs 445, Oriental’s by Rs 13 to Rs 600 and Taragaon’s by eight rupees to Rs 252.

Hydropower sub-index dropped by 3.06 per cent to 2,018.68 points, weighed down by Chilime’s share price slumping by Rs 46 to Rs 1,409 and Sanima Mai’s by Rs 41 to Rs 781.

Similarly, insurance subgroup retreated by 2.04 per cent to 5,083.31 points. Life

Insurance Co’s share value dived by Rs 155 to Rs 3,500, Nepal Life’s by Rs 90 to Rs 3,540, and National Life’s by Rs 14 to Rs 2,285, among others.

Nepal Telecom’s stock price went down by Rs 11 to Rs 659, which in turn pulled the others subgroup down 1.64 per cent to 774.21 points.

Nabil Bank (Promoter Share) secured the top spot in terms of highest turnover with

Rs 169.27 million. Nepal Investment Bank (Promoter Share) with Rs 160.86 million,

Everest Bank with Rs 106.17 million, NIC Asia Bank with Rs 89.45 million and National Life Insurance with Rs 87.35 million rounded up the top five in this category.

Meanwhile, similar to the previous week, Siddhartha Investment Growth Scheme-I was the forerunner with regards to number of shares traded with 1.41 million of its scrips changing hands. Prabhu Bank topped the chart in terms of transactions, with 501 deals.