Kathmandu, August 25:

Hectic buying activity has pushed the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index this week to a new historic high of 725.86 points.

This week, the country’s sole secondary market witnessed yet another milestone in its

14-year-long history, as it inducted automated trading system using the Computerised International Standard Securities Trading Software.

Though analysts predicted price correction after the induction of automated trading

system, Nepse posted a double-digit growth of 15.22 points against last week’s loss of

over 12 points. Nepse that opened at 710.64 points on Sunday soared to 725.86 points on the closing day.

Nepse opened at 710.64 points on Sunday and went up to 714.06 points on the second day, 721.75 points on the third day, 722.54 points on the fourth day and 725.51 points on the fifth day before closing at 725.86 points on Friday.

Rumours, lack of investment opportunity at present and short supply of shares have boosted the market sentiment.

The share prices of the commercial banks, companies under hydropower and finance groups gained, while the companies under development banks groups lost this week.

The weekly turnover, however, decreased this week to Rs 192.3 million with 209,206 unit shares having been traded through 1,068 transactions, against the last week’s figure of Rs 278.1 million through the trading of 579,509 shares.

The commercial banks group, which is the largest scrip by volume at the Nepse floor, bounced back this week with a huge gain, as its index soared by 22.26 points.

The group’s index climbed up to 810.82 points from the opening 788.56 points.

The hydropower group, one of the aggressive performers, this week posted a gain of over eight points, as its index rose to 1140.16 points from the opening 1131.88 points.

Likewise, the finance group maintained a steady growth and its index posted a 5.40 points growth over the week. The group opened its trading 514.61 points on Sunday and closed at 520.01 points on the last day.

Hotel, manufacturing and the insurance groups, too, managed growth, albeit marginally. Nepse indices of these groups closed at 274.54 points, 347.74 points and 652.57 points respectively.

These groups began their trading at 273.96 points, 347.54 and 642.52 points respectively on Sunday.

On the other hand, the development banks group was a sole loser this week. The group, which had gained last week, lost by 6.13 points to settle at 539.75 points.

The trading and other groups, meanwhile, remained constant at 162.03 and 818.12 points respectively throughout the week, as the companies under these groups didn’t have a single trading.

Chilime Hydropower outshone all others in terms of trading in monetary value for the week, as the company’s trading stood at 24,796,400, while Central Finance Ltd stood first in terms of the largest number of shares being traded for the week. Lumbini Bank Ltd topped all in terms of number of shares transactions.

The Nepse floor remained open for six days this week, where the shares of Nabil Bank Ltd, Nepal Investment Bank Ltd, Standard Chartered Bank Ltd, Himalayan Bank Ltd, Nepal SBI Bank Ltd, Nepal Bangladesh Bank Ltd, Everest Bank Ltd, NIC Bank Ltd, Bank of Kathmandu Ltd, Machhapuchhre Bank Ltd, Lumbini Bank Ltd, NCC Bank Ltd, Siddhartha Bank Ltd and Chilime Hydropower Company Ltd were traded throughout the week.