KATHMANDU, April 20: The stock market remained closed on Sunday due to Nepalese New Year. The benchmark equity index witnessed strength in four trading days of the week – Monday to Thursday – with the index closing on green zone.  

Eventually, Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index closed the week 48.24 points or 4.07 percent higher at 1,232.26 points.

Investors seemed optimistic and confident with the start of New Year as buying pressure continued to dominant the equity market. Mostly the banking stocks led the turnover this week as investors appeared positive toward their corporate earnings reports at the end of the third quarter. Consequently, the bourse continued to show strong sessions. 

Total weekly turnover stood at Rs. 2.62 billion. Sensitive Index, which measures the performance of Class 'A' stocks, outperformed the broader market. It registered a gain of 4.7 percent.

In terms of sectoral performance, most of the sub-indices closed the week higher, except Hydropower and 'Others' sub-indices. Both indices registered a meager loss of 0.53 percent and 0.2 percent respectively. 

Banking, Microfinance and Hotels stocks followed suit with gains of 6.61 percent, 5.46 percent and 3.15 percent in the respective sub-index. 

Sub-indices of Development Bank and Life Insurance sectors climbed over 1 percent each. Finance, Manufacturing & Processing and Non-Life Insurance sub index also ended the week on positive note.

In terms of market activity, shares of NMB Bank Ltd registered the highest turnover for a week. Over Rs 194.09 million worth of shares exchanged hands. It was followed by Kumari Bank Ltd with total transactions of over Rs172 million. Prabhu Bank Ltd, NIC Asia BANK Ltd and Nepal Bank Ltd followed suit with total turnover of Rs 150.65 million, 144.39 million and 126.84 million respectively. 
Other active stocks of the week were Civil Bank Ltd, Nepal Credit and Commercial Bank Ltd, Siddhartha Bank Ltd, Machhapuchhre Bank Ltd and Neco Insurance Co Ltd.

Among listings for the week include bonus shares of Nepal Investment Bank Ltd and right shares of Synergy Finance Company Ltd.

In the news, Sanjen Jalavidhyut Company Ltd and Rasuwagadhi Hydropower Company Ltd issued 5,475,000 unit and 10,263,150 unit shares respectively as their initial public offering (IPO) to the public from April 19 to April 23.

As per the ARKS technical analysis, the Nepse index formed a bullish candlestick for the fourth consecutive weeks in a row with notable turnovers. 

Technical indicators like Relative Strength Index (RSI) and Moving Average Convergence/ Divergence (MACD) also suggest slightly bullish sentiment in the current scenario. 
Hence, a breakout above immediate resistance at 1,280 points mark see the further possible move to the upside of equity index in the coming sessions.

 
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