KATHMANDU, Aug 8: Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) on Thursday increased marginally by 6.70 points to close at 2,766.38 points.

The secondary market opened at 2,759.67 points and escalated to the day’s high at 2,811.16 points in the first 24 minutes. The index then fell to as low as 2,745.84 points in the next two hours. The market then went through a series of fluctuations and recovered around 21 points in the remaining period before it closed for the day.

The sensitive index, which measures the performance of ‘A’ class companies, also added nominal 0.21 points. The daily turnover increased to Rs 20.07 billion from Rs 17.95 billion on Wednesday.

Six groups were listed as gainers, while manufacturing and processing added the biggest of 453.89 points. Of the seven losers, the hotels and tourism index declined with the highest of 95.61 points.

Among individual companies, 79 were recorded as gainers whereas 160 were the losers.

Shivam Cements had the largest turnover of its shares worth Rs 1.20 billion. Six companies including Karnali Development Bank Limited, Shivam Cements, Ghorahi Cement Industry, Mid Solu Hydropower, Sonapur Minerals and Oil Limited and Sarbottam Cement Limited were listed as the highest gainers, by adding 10 percent in their market values. NRN Infrastructure and Development Limited lost the largest of 8.04 percent of its market price.