Kathmandu, April 21:

After two months of sporadic trading, Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index finally crossed 500 point mark due to strong support by the commercial banks group. The stock trading, which bounced back last week, witnessed some positive trend this week too as it finished off at 503.39 points.

The stock trading had recovered last week with 6.37 points growth, whereas this week the index posted only 5.56 points growth. The weekly trading report shows that the index went up to finish off at 503.29 on Thursday from the opening 497.73 points. The share trading gained momentum from the very first day with its index closing at 498.02 points on the second day and 498.91 points on the third day. It closed at 501.27 points on the fourth day, before closing at 503.29 points on Thursday.

The weekly turnover also increased this week, as it touched Rs 107.3 million with 239,939 unit shares having been traded through 2,800 transactions during the week. A total of 296,848 unit shares worth over Rs 100.04 million were traded through 2,029 transactions. Out of the total 76 listed companies, 68 companies saw their transactions this week.

The group wise share trading data shows that the major groups including commercial banks and finance groups continued with sound growth, whereas trading and hotel group also registered growth in their respective indices.

Among the gainers, the commercial banks group, which is the largest scrip by volume, posted a healthy growth of 8.71 points. The group’s index closed at 539.80 points from the opening 531.09 points. The group had gained over 11 points last week.

Likewise, the finance group gained 4.72 points and closed at 423.56 points on Thursday. The group, which had suffered a huge loss last week, opened its trading at 418.84 points on Sunday.

The trading group’s index finished off at 148.71 points, registering a 2.66 point growth. The group, which had remained constant for last couple of weeks, opened at 146.05 points on Sunday. Another slow gainer - the hotel group’s index closed at 236.41 points from the opening 236.15 points on Sunday.

On the other hand, the other group’s index dropped to 663.96 points from the opening 664.20 points. The insurance group lost by 6.09 points to settle at 595.70 points on Thursday from 601.79 points on Sunday.

The development banks group, which has been suffering loss for last three weeks, suffered another loss of 3.35 points. The group’s index closed at 435.22 points from the opening 438.57 points on Sunday.

The manufacturing group, however, remained constant at 329.42 points, as the group had not a single trading throughout the week.

The commercial banks group continue to dominate the floor, as it captured the majority of total share trading. The group cornered 71.82 per cent of the total trading, while the finance group came second with 10.97 per cent. The development banks group grabbed 10.11 per cent, the others group had 4.38 per cent, while the insurance group bagged 2.15 per cent share.

Bank of Kathmandu topped all other companies for the largest trading for the week. The bank’s share worth Rs 10,806,478 exchanged hands this week, while Nepal Bangladesh Bank stood first in terms of having the largest number of shares traded for the week. But, Shikhar Insurance Ltd topped all for having the highest number of transactions.

The floor opened for five days under a regular lot, where the shares of Nepal Investment Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Himalayan Bank, Nepal SBI Bank, Nepal Bangladesh Bank, Everest Bank, Bank of Kathmandu, Kumari Bank, Lumbini Bank, Siddhartha Bank, NCC Bank, Chilime Hydropower Company, Sikhar Insurance, Nepal Merchant Banking & Finance, Central Finance, and Development Credit Bank were traded throughout the week.