NEPSE pulls out of weeklong dive

NEPSE pulls out of weeklong dive
eKantipur, 12-Aug-09

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) Wednesday surged 26.98 points after being in the doldrums all last week. The sensitive index too soared 10.12 points. This is the first time in 2009 that the sensitive index has increased by double digits.

According to stock analysts, the secondary market bounced back after the news of Standard Chartered Bank’s proposing cash dividend of Rs 50 per share and 2:1 bonus share. Common investors are hoping other commercial banks will also give the same kind of return to them, as financial institutions have started to release their fourth quarterly reports, with show good profit.

All the sub-indices on NEPSE saw an increment on Wednesday. The banking sector pushed up the index after it grew by a huge margin of 45.57 points followed by the hydropower sector which rose 11.18 points and the development bank sector which increased 9.63 points. Likewise, the finance sector increased by 2.14 points and the insurance sector was up 1.46 points.

The share market witnessed a total turnover of Rs. 137.846 million with 180,602 shares being traded. Shares of 63 companies changed hands on NEPSE.

There were 20 commercial banks that traded on the trading floor on Wednesday. All the banks on the index today witnessed an increase. The highest gainer among the commercial banks was Standard Chartered Bank which rose by 542 points.

Similarly, among the 10 development banks whose shares were traded on NEPSE on Wednesday, seven saw an increase in their share prices while only two of them lost. Ace Development Bank was the highest gainer among development banks with a 27 point increment. Triveni Bikas Bank lost 7 points.

Likewise among the 25 finance companies on NEPSE, Nepal Aawas Bikas Beeta Co. was the highest gainer with an increase of 20 points in its share price. Lumbini Finance lost 31 points. Among the 25 finance companies, 13 of them witnessed an increase while eight went down.

The top five winners on NEPSE were Standard Chartered Bank and Nabil Bank with a 9.99 percent rise each followed by KIST Bank, Everest Bank and NIC Bank.

Similarly, the top five losers on Wednesday were Lumbini Finance which fell by 2.72 percent followed by Lord Buddha Financial Institution, Kathmandu Finance, Nepal Share Markets and Lumbini General Insurance.

Standard Chartered Bank topped the chart in terms of turnover with Rs. 22.309 million