KATHMANDU: Nepal’s stock market saw a rise on Thursday, largely fueled by gains in the banking sector.
While most other sectors registered losses, the banking index surged by 3.82 percent, leading the overall NEPSE index to climb by 19.04 points. With this gain, the NEPSE settled at 2,688.33 points by the end of trading.
Earlier in the day, the index had reached as high as 2,705 points around 12:43 pm but failed to sustain above the 2,700 mark as trading progressed.
Despite the increase in the benchmark index, total turnover in the market declined. Thursday’s transaction volume dropped to Rs 9.82 billion, down from Rs 10.69 billion the previous day.
A total of 104 companies saw their share prices increase, while 142 declined and one remained unchanged. In addition to banking, the microfinance sector also posted a notable gain, rising by 2.58 percent. The non-life insurance sector remained unchanged.
On the other hand, several sectors dragged the market down. The hotel and tourism sector recorded the largest drop of 2.60 percent. Other declining sectors included development banks, finance companies, hydropower, investment, life insurance, manufacturing and processing, trading, and the “others” category.
Despite the decline in most sectors and a drop in turnover, the strong performance of the banking sector was enough to keep the market in positive territory for the day.
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