The stock market, which opened at 496.92 points, gained 12.11 points, or 2.43 percent, by the end of the day to scale to the height last reached on March 3, 2010, Nepse´s daily trading report shows.[break]
The feat comes at a time when over Rs 2 billion has been locked up in the 800-million-rupee initial public offering launched by Civil Bank, which was oversubscribed by at least four times till the time it wrapped up on Thursday evening.
Sunday´s market rally was led by stocks of commercial banks, with Global IME, Sanima, Prime and Grand leading the way.
Nepse´s website shows stocks of Global IME Bank adding 8.61 percent to its value to end the day at Rs 429. Shares of Sanima Bank also gained 7.94 percent to close at Rs 272, while stocks of Prime Commercial Bank and Grand Bank rose 6.88 percent and 6.67 percent, respectively, to end the day at Rs 295 and Rs 208.
“There has been lot of interest in banking stocks since the end of Dashain festival in the last week of October. Although many corrections took place since then, their demand has kept on rising,” Stock Broker Anjan Poudel said.
As buying pressure for bank stocks went up, the banking index rose 16.88 points, or 3.6 percent, to end at 484.6 points on Sunday. And this gave a lift of 12.11 points to the benchmark index as they contribute to 50 percent of the total market capitalization.
Apart from banking stocks, demand for shares of other listed companies was also high on the day, with all indices, except hotels, ending up in the green zone. This indicated an upbeat investor confidence, according to Poudel.
Many investors are thronging stock market these days as banks and financial institutions have started slashing both deposit and lending rates.
“This, on one hand, has made credit cheaper for those wanting to invest in stock market while, on the other, discouraged depositors to park their money in bank accounts, as returns are now higher on stock market,” Poudel said. “In addition, investors have also started leaving commodities and derivatives markets, as the sector is not regulated and risks are simply too high. Besides, lack of investment avenues is also forcing investors to return back to the stock market.”
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