Rs 203.67b market capitalisation

Kathmandu, September 1:

Share trading this week hit yet another all time high of 739.53 points as Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index posted a rise of 13.67 points against last week’s 725.86 points.

The sole secondary market which had a market capitalisation of six billion, when it started its trading floor in 1994, has this week registered a total of Rs 203.67 billion market capitalisation.

Though the analysts have predicted a slow down in trading after automation of Nepse, it is posting a steady growth.

The Nepse that opened at 725.86 points on Sunday faltered on the first two days and dropped to 723.71 and 723.04 points on the second and third day respectively. However, it bounced back to close at 739.53 points on the closing day.

As usual, share prices of commercial banks, companies under hydropower and development banks groups dominated the trading floor this week, while the companies under finance and insurance groups became losers.

The weekly turnover, however, decreased to Rs 156.7 million with 216,227 unit shares having been traded through 897 transactions, against the last week’s figure of Rs 192.3 million through the trading of 209,206 shares.

The commercial banks group, which is the largest scrip by volume at the floor, registered a huge gain, as its index soared by 13.52 points. The group’s index climbed up to 824.91 points from the opening 811.39 points.

The hydropower group, one of the aggressive performers in recent days, this week registered yet another impressive growth of 48.15 points, as its index rose to 1187.91 points from the opening 1139.76 points. It has been registering a double digit growth for the last couple of weeks.

The development banks group bounced back with a huge gain of 96.52 points growth, one the largest growth in intra-group trading, to close at 631.01 points. The group had lost last week.

Hotel group managed a marginal growth, as its index rose to 276.45 from opening 274. 54 points.

On the other hand, finance group suffered a heavy loss of 19.27 po-ints and settled at 503.88 points. Insurance group is yet another lo-ser this week, as it’s index dropped by 4.15 points to close at 648.31 points.

The manufacturing, trading and other groups, meanwhile, remained constant at 347.54, 162.03 and 818.12 points respectively throughout the week, as their shares were not traded.

Nabil Bank Ltd outshone all others in terms of in monetary value this week, as the bank’s shares worth Rs 22,129,140 exchanged hands at the floor, while National Hydropower Co stood first in terms of the largest number of shares traded and transactions held for the week. The company’s 80,500 shares were traded through 58 transactions.

The floor remained open for four days this week.