Nepse logs 3.33 points gain in a week

NEPAL Stock Exchange (Nepse) gained 3.33 points last week to close at 551.44 points. It was the first time that the benchmark has crossed 550 points in the last six months. The upward movement of the stock market has gained momentum in the recent days with the companies listed on the Nepse showing good profit margin. Ram Chandra Bhattarai, director at Aryatara Investment _ Securities, attributed the recent gain to people’s hope that they would get good profit given that a majority of the companies are publishing their financial results of the last fiscal year. “The market is expected to go up until the companies announce book closure.” Of the nine groups categorised, six registered gains in their respective indices. hydropower companies topped the list with a gain of 98.22 points, followed by hotels, manufacturing, development Banks, ‘others’ and finance companies. Bhattrai said the expectation of investors that Chilime Hydropower would provide a heavy bonus share and cash dividend helped soar the hydropower sector’s index. Only two trading groups— Insurance Companies and Commercial Banks—witnessed a fall in their respective indices last week. The index of ‘trading’ group remained stable at 172.23 throughout the weekdays. The sensitive index that measures the transaction of the class ‘A’ companies increased by 0.59 points to close at 138.55 points. Among the individual companies, Nepal Bangladesh Bank topped both in terms of the number of shares and transaction amount. The bank witnessed a turnover of Rs 174.04 million through transaction of 489,899 shares over the period. According to stockbrokers, the bank’s higher equity transaction was fueled by the news that the ICFC, a Bengali group is on the verge of taking over the shares of NB Group in the bank. Chilime Hydropower Company, Nepal Credit _ Commerce Bank, Everest Bank and Kumari Bank are other companies that hit the list of top transaction amount. The capital market observed a 37.44 percent rise in the transaction worth during the review period. The total turnover of the market amounted to Rs 872.1 million, up from Rs 634.5 million in the previous week. However, the number of shares traded declined to 2,621,917 units as against 2,709,302 units. Transaction of ‘A’ category companies amounted to Rs 392.3 million, which was 44.99 percent of the total transaction amount. up after US growth data