The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index, which opened at 539.26 points on Monday, went up by 9.14 points over the week to close at 548.40 points on Thursday, the last trading day of the week.[break]
Although the 1.69-percent hike in the benchmark index over the week was seen by many as a positive response, others said the stock market would have scaled to much higher level had Mohan Baidya-led Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist, which enforced half-day Kathmandu Valley banda on Thursday, and 21 fringe parties not objected to the 11-point deal signed by major political parties that paved way for formation of the interim government.
On Thursday, soon after Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi was sworn in as chairman of the interim government formed to hold fresh Constituent Assembly elections, the benchmark index rallied to around 40-month high of 560.34 points. This was the first time the index had reached that level since November 22, 2009.
However, after the CPN-Maoist and 21 fringe parties objected to the move, the index started moving downhill and ended the day at 548.4 points - up 2.26 points than Wednesday´s 546.14 points.
“The index also took a dip on Thursday because of profit booking, as investors waiting for the stock market to revive started selling shares soon after share prices started rising,” Stockbroker Anjan Poudel said.
Over the week, all sub-indices, except manufacturing and trade, posted gains, with banking sub-index ending up as the winner. Banking sub-index gained 11.55 points over the week to end at 548.29 points on Thursday.
This week´s league table on share transaction is also dominated by banks, with KIST Bank securing the top position recording transaction amount of Rs 153.68 million. Second in the list was Nepal Bangladesh Bank, which reported weekly share transaction of Rs 40.38 million, while Bank of Kathmandu came third, recording weekly transaction of Rs 26.92 points.
Overall, the stock market witnessed share transaction of Rs 532.53 million over the week, down from previous week´s Rs 672.69 million. Share transaction declined this week as the market was open for only three days, as against the normal of five days due to public holidays on Sunday and Tuesday.
Bonus shares listed
Everest Bank listed 3.69 units and Nepal SBI Bank listed another 2.62 million units of bonus shares on Nepse this week.
Similarly, Garima Bikas Bank listed 200,000 units of bonus shares on the stock market. Khadbari Development Bank and International Development Bank, meanwhile, listed 500,000 units and 6.4 million units of ordinary shares on the stock market this week.
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