KATHMANDU, August 26: Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index fell 0.16 point this week to close at 1,617.81 points on Thursday -- the last trading day of the week. 

Observers say that the market was relatively stable this week. As some listed companies, particularly bank and financial institutions (BFIs), have published impressive financial results, investors are upbeat of getting better returns. However, a new rule introduced by Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) to not allow BFIs to include interbank deposits while calculating core capital-cum-deposit (CCD) ratio has hit the stocks which were recovering after the BFIs came to a comfortable lending position.  

Though the rule was rolled back at the end of the week, it made investors worried that the flow of finance toward stock market could be tightened further. 

Most of the trading groups ended in the red zone this week. Hotels group plunged 33.98 points to close at 2,426.08 points. Insurance group also fell 14.57 points to end the week at 9,187.67 points.

The sub-indices of Manufacturing and Processing group, and Banking groups also went down 9.09 points and 2.8 points, respectively, to close at 2,593.91 points and 1,401.6 points. Finance group ended 0.34 point lower at 816.6 points. Hydropower group, however, jumped 9.76 points to close at 1,859.95 points. 'Others' group also went up 13.3 points to close at 723.91 points, while Development Bank sub-index logged a marginal gain of 1.68 points to close the week at 2,016.34 points.  

Prime Life Insurance Company Ltd topped list of companies in terms of turnover amount (Rs 197.58 million), while Siddhartha Investment Growth Scheme 1 finished the week at the top in terms of number of traded shares (3.62 million units). Himalayan Power Partner Ltd remained at the top of the list of companies in terms of number of transactions (11,889). 

A total of 14.8 million units of shares of 175 companies worth Rs 3.31 billion were traded in the market this week through 40,183 transactions. The turnover is 8.45 percent higher compared to last week.  

Rights shares of Nepal SBI Bank Ltd, Jyoti Bikas Bank Ltd and Siddhartha Insurance Ltd, and bonus shares of Nepal Community Development Bank Ltd were listed in the stock market for trading. Similarly, 50 million units of ordinary shares of Development Bond 2086 'Kha' have also been listed for trading.

 
• market largely stable