Nepse index down 4.46 points

The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index went down by 4.46 points this week. The benchmark index, which opened at 583.76 points on Sunday, closed at 579.30 points on Thursday - the last trading day of the week. Stock analysts have termed marginal drop in Nepse index as market correction after gains over the past few weeks. The Nepse index had increased remarkably after the Dashain festival. Experts had attributed Nepse´s journey into the green zone to positive political developments for the Constituent Assembly (CA) election which buoyed investors´ confidence. Gunanidhi Bhusal, managing director of Aryatara Investment & Securities, predicted Nepse index to post steady gains in the coming weeks. Some banks and financial institutions are expected to announce their first quarter report in the coming weeks and it is expected to create some fluctuation in share prices. A total of 2.01 million units of shares of 123 companies worth Rs 736.6 million were traded through 9,723 transactions this week. “The major fluctuation was seen in the Hotel group after the Soaltee Hotels Limited announced 40 percent bonus shares and 12.63 percent cash dividend to its shareholders this week,” added Bhusal. The Hotels group was the biggest gainer of the week as its sub-index gained a whopping 94.21 points to close at 891.56 points on Thursday. Similarly, the sub-indices of the Manufacturing and Insurance groups increased by 27.71 and 9.92 points, respectively, to settle at 913.40 and 1,369.76 points respectively. The Finance and Development Banks sub-indices were also up 3.64 and 1.44 points to close at 278.44 and 302.86, respectively. However, Hydropower and Commercial Banks ended the week in the red zone. The Hydropower sub-index went down by 12.28 points to close at 1386.20 points, while the Commercial Banks sub-index shed 11.64 points to settle at 553.75 points. The sub-indices of Trading and Others groups remained unchanged over the week.