Nepse picks up pace again

The share market was on a roll this week with the Nepse index closing 49.38 points higher to go to 658.83 points. The previous week's closure was at 609.46 points.
Though the market showed signs of growth this week after a long time, investors are still not confident of its continuty. "These are only occasional spurts, and the overall market sentiment is very much bearish as there are no encouraging signs from any quarter," said an investor.
Low investors confidence was also revealed in the negative growth of market capitalisation. This week also, the market lost Rs 46,680.81 million as it registered a total market capitalisation of Rs 361,384.01 million on the last day of trading in the domestic market. Last week, it was at Rs 408,064.82 million.
The transaction amount also plunged by 35.29 per cent to Rs 199.88 million against last week's Rs 308.889 million worth transaction. Only 65 companies saw their shares traded this week against 82 companies last week.
However, the sensitive index -- a barometer of Group-A companies -- soared by 11.88 points to touch 169.39 points from last week's closing. Similarly, the float index -- calculated on the basis of real transactions -- also gained 4.21 points to reach 64.04 points from last week's closing of 59.83 points.
All market leaders, the commercial bank, development bank, finance companies and insurance groups except hydropower group, gained this week. The commercial banks group gained 56.43 points to reach 617.46 points, development bank group gained 84.08 points to reach 987.90 points, finance company group gained 8.06 points to reach 873.78 points and insurance company group gained 14.30 points to reach 715.16 points. The hydropower group lost 3.24 points to end up at 840.01 points.
The market opened in the green on Sunday at 616.15 points, an increase of 6.69 points from last week's closing of 609.46 points. On Monday, Nepse gained a whopping 29.17 points to stand at 645.32 points. On Wednesday, it soared by 13.51 points to close at 658.83 points.
The sole secondary market was closed on Tuesday on account of Lhosar and on Thursday on account of Martyrs' Day. It remained opened for only three days. But all the three sessions ended on a positive note, pushing Nepse up by 49.38 points.
This week's top performers were International Leasing and Finance (with Rs 18.24 million), Standard Chartered Bank Nepal (with Rs 17.97 million), Bank of Kathmandu (with Rs 15.21 million), Kumari bank (with Rs 10.65 million) and Nepal Development and Employment Promotion Bank (with 9.83 million).
In terms of share units traded also, International Leasing and Finance topped the chart with 35,000-unit shares this week whereas in terms of number of transactions Nepal Development and Employment Promotion Bank topped the chart with 345 transactions.
As usual, this week too bonds and debentures did not see any transactions on the Nepse floor. Analysts said the government should encourage people to invest on bonds and debentures as they are a safer bet than shares.