WEEKLY SHARE UPDATE: Bourse registers marginal growth Kathmandu, October 22: Share prices of commercial banks continued to register a growth for consecutive fourth week, which in turn helped grow the overall stock trading. As a result, the share trading at the country’s sole secondary market — Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) posted an increase of 0.69 point. The index index opened at 297.66 points on Tuesday and went up to register 298.35 points on Thursday, the last day for share transactions under the regular lot. According to a group-wise analysis, index of the commercial banks continued to post growth, while the finance group maintained only a marginal growth. Most of the groups remained constant except insurance group which suffered a marginal loss. The weekly total transaction value stood at Rs 10,806,236 from 472 transactions of 34,554 share units. Out of the 47 listed firms at the Nepse, only 33 companies saw their transaction this week. The commercial banks group, the largest scrip by volume at the Nepse floor, posted a growth of 1.12 points this week. The group’s index opened at 318.98 points on Tuesday and went up to 320.10 points. The finance group, which had also gained last week, registered a marginal growth of 0.35 point this week also. The index of the group opened at 231.51 points and closed at 231.86 points. However, the index of the insurance group suffered a loss this week as it closed at 321.10 points on Thursday. Earlier the index of this group opened at 321.98 points. The group had lost last week, too. The manufacturing, the hotel, the trading, the other and the development bank groups, however, remained constant at 305.01 points, 178 points, 129.55 points 322.39 points and 217.31 points respectively. Out of the eight listed groups, the commercial banks group continued its domination by capturing the largest chunk of share at the floor. It captured 64.87 per cent of the total share trading. The finance group came second and the insurance group secured the third position in the total trading. World Merchant Banking & Finance Ltd topped all the companies in terms of number of transaction with 211 transactions. But National Finance Ltd stood first in terms of monetary value and the number of shares traded for the week. A total of 10,584 shares of the company were traded at Rs 3,069,360. The shares of Nepal Investment Bank, Himalayan Bank Ltd, Nepal SBI Bank, Everest Bank Ltd, NIC Bank Ltd, Lumbini Bank Ltd, World Merchant Banking & Finance and National Finance Ltd were traded this week. The floor was open for only three days this week.