The market, which had been on a freefall due to Tarai turmoil and economic blockade imposed by India in the wake of the promulgation of new constitution, started taking recovery course from last week. The benchmark index dropped to 1,044.01 points on November 26 after climbing to record high of 1,205.85 points on September 15
The index, however, started taking steady rise from last week amid speculations that Tarai-based agitating parties are positive toward resolving differences through talks.
Nepse index had gone up by 50.17 points to close at 1,072.94 points last week.
Positive news reports following India visit of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Kamal Thapa have boosted the morale of investors, according to stock market observers.
“Investors are hopeful that country's situation will return to normalcy sooner or later once India lifts its economic blockade. Leaders of Tarai-based parties, too, have said that they would show flexibility to resolve the disputes following their India visit earlier this week,” Gunanidhi Bhusal of Aryatara Investment and Securities Pvt Ltd said. “Since this is the divided distribution of listed companies, particularly bank and financial institutions, and insurance companies, the market is expected to perform better.”
'Insurance' was the highest gainer of the week as its sub-index rose by 106.54 points to close at 4,756.88 points. 'Development Bank' and 'Finance' groups followed suit, as their sub-indices went up by 51.6 points and 28.27 points, respectively, to close at 999.58 points and 1,787.85 points. Hotels sub-index also went up 22.12 points to close the week at 1,787.85 points. The sub-indices of 'Hydropower' and 'Banking' groups also ended on the green zone, gaining 19.3 points and 7.46 points, respectively, to close at 1,942.91 points and 1,034.16 points. 'Others' group, however, shed 2.34 points to close at 757.77 points. Trading, and Manufacturing and Processing sub-indices remained unchanged at 207.97 points and 1,883.18 points, respectively.
A total of 2.98 million units of shares of 154 companies worth Rs 1.87 billion were traded in the market through 14,253 transactions this week.
NIC Asia and Nabil Balance Fund I topped the list of companies in terms of turnover (Rs 142.2 million) and number of shares traded (219,000), respectively. Likewise, Api Power Company Ltd was at the top in terms of number of transactions (3,247).
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