Nepse jumps 26.05 points; insurers lead

KATHMANDU, MAY 11 - The capital market continued to grow last week, driven by increased investors’ optimism.

The benchmark index posted an impressive 26.05 points to close at 865.76 points last week, thanks to massive contribution of insurance, manufacturing and hydropower sectors. The three sectors grew by 107.15 points, 41.35 points and 37.4 points, respectively. The banking sub-index also surged 34.77 points. Except for the hotels, all other sub-groups posted gains.

Stock brokers attributed the rise of stock prices to an increase in investment on shares last week.  Anjan Raj Poudel, chief executive of Thrive Brokerage House, said the market witnessed an increased investment from both the old and new investors last week.

The insurance sector has been witnessing a massive upward movement in the recent months, thanks to the provision requiring insurance companies to increase their paid-up capital, forcing them to issue rights shares. The companies are booking handsome profits.

“The insurance sector has been rising in the recent days, there has also been correction in the price on the exchange. The sector may not rise as much after the recent surge,” Poudel said.

According to him, the rise in investments into bank shares has also resulted in some of the banks reporting a relatively good financial report for the third quarter.

The market last week saw 14,462 transactions, up from the previous week’s 9,282. The turnover rose 72.18 percent to Rs 2.39 billion. The number of traded shares doubled to 5,709,930 from 2,827,860 a week ago.

The sensitive index, which measures the performance of ‘A’ class companies rose 4.95 points.

Global IME Bank topped in terms of individual turnover (Rs 200.02 million) and the number of transactions (1,024), while Nabil Balanced Fund topped in terms of the number shares traded (1,137,114).

Last week, bonus shares of Lumbini Bank, Siddhartha Bank, Small Farmer Development Bank, Life Insurance Corporation Nepal, Deprox Micro Finance Development Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Exel Development Bank, NLG Insurance  and Everest Finance were listed on the exchange.