Stock market sees increase in volumes as Nepse hits all time high

KATHMANDU : The benchmark Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) opened in green note and rose 39 points till mid-day. Then after the equity market witnessed some correction but still managed to trade in positive side of spectrum for the rest of the session. At the close, Nepse went up by 20.61 points on the first trading day of the year to close at all-time high of 2735.40.

The index stretched its advance for a third straight day as most of the sectors saw strength. Likewise, the total turnover also increased by 20.91% as compared to the preceding day. Over Rs. 8.63 billion worth of shares changed hands.

While most of the segments closed in green, Trading and Hydropower saw some correction after earlier rally. The group’s index lost 2.53% and 0.34% respectively. Development Bank, Finance, Investment and Banking sub-indices rallied 3.12%, 2.22%, 1.57% and 1.22% correspondingly.  Similarly, Hotels and Tourism, Non-Life Insurance, Manufacturing & Processing, Others, Microfinance, Life Insurance and Mutual Fund ended the day with a meager increment.

NIC Asia Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd and Nepal Infrastructure Bank Ltd’s shares led the list of top turnover stocks and registered over Rs. 498million each. Likewise, shares of NIC Asia Bank Ltd, Nepal Bangladesh Bank Ltd and Nabil Bank Ltd followed suit with turnover of Rs. 326 million, Rs. 247 million, and Rs. 231 million respectively. Global IME Bank Ltd, Kumari Bank Ltd, Himalayan Distillery Ltd and Prabhu Bank Ltd were also heavily traded on Thursday.

Best Finance Company Ltd’s share was the biggest percentage gainer on the day. The scrip hit the upper circuit limit of 10%. It was followed by the shares of NIC Asia Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd, Mahila Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd, Jyoti Life Insurance Co. Ltd, Green Development Bank Ltd, Chhyangdi Hydropower Ltd, Karnali Development Bank Ltd and Saptakoshi Development Bank Ltd also remained locked in the positive circuit limit of above 9.5% each.

Multipurpose Finance Company Ltd, National Microfinance Bittiya Sanstha Ltd and Swabhimaan Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd declined 3.67%, 3.52% and 3.46% respectively. Similarly, Salt Trading Corporation Ltd, Miteri Development Bank Ltd, Sadhana Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd and National Hydro Power Company Ltd also suffered losses of more than 2% each.

In terms of ARKS technical analysis, the equity market closed the first trading day of the year at all-time high level with noteworthy turnover. Technical indicators like Relative Strength Index (RSI) has reached at overbought zone whereas the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) still shows the positive momentum. However, some correction can be expected in the present context. Nonetheless, the overall uptrend in the stock market has remained intact backed by significant volume on the day.