KATHMANDU, Jan 29: Stocks posted marginal gains in initial trading hour on Monday. The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index wavered along the unchanged line in the afternoon to finally end choppy session with a modest gain of 2.79 points to close at 1,164.89 points.
After losing more than 10 points in the preceding session, the index made a partial recovery on Monday. However, the earnings season is yet to make a remarkable impact on the overall investor sentiment, despite most of the listed companies reporting growth in terms of net profits. Meanwhile, the market added to its series of bland trading sessions with turnover of only Rs 224 million.
The sub-indices of Non-life Insurance and Microfinance sectors logged gains of 1.3 percent and 1.23 percent, respectively. Similarly, Development Banks, Life Insurance, Finance and Banking segments followed suit with their sub-indices closing slightly higher. On the other hand, sub-indices of Manufacturing & Processing, Others, Hotels and Hydropower ended the day in red. In terms of market participation, Civil Bank Ltd Promoter Share posted the highest turnover on Monday. The company registered turnover of over Rs 19 million.
Nepse ends week with gains
Similarly, share prices of Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Ltd and Nepal Bank Ltd followed rallied for second consecutive day with total transactions of Rs 17 million and Rs 13 million, respectively.
Furthermore, Janata Bank Nepal Ltd, NMB Bank Ltd, Nepal Investment Bank Ltd, and Prime Commercial Bank Ltd were the other active companies of the day.
Support Microfinance Bittiya Sanstha Ltd led the list of advances with gains of almost 10 percent. Next on the list was Mahuli Samudayik Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd which posted gains of 7.74 percent. Meanwhile, share prices of Mahila Sahayatra Microfinance Bittiya Sanstha Ltd, Samudayik Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd, Reliance Finance Ltd and Janautthan Samudayik Laghubitta Bikas Bank Ltd also went up by over 4 percent each.
On the other hand, share price of Hathway Finance Company Ltd posted a decline of over 4 percent. Multipurpose Finance Company Ltd and Kalika Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd also led the list of losers with their share prices going down by over 3 percent each. Ankhu Khola Jalvidhyut Company Ltd, Bottlers Nepal (Tarai) Ltd, Himalayan Distillery Ltd and Laxmi Bank Ltd were the other losing scrips.
On earnings front, Hathway Finance Company Ltd published its earnings report for the second quarter of Fiscal Year 2018/19 with 38.55 percent growth in its net profit. Similarly, Sahayogi Vikas Bank Ltd reported a year-on-year net profit growth of 4.39 percent to Rs 32 million.
Similarly, Securities Exchange Board of Nepal (Sebon) has approved distribution of 100 percent right shares proposed by Mero Microfinance Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd. After the adjustment of the right shares, the paid-up capital of the microfinance company will reach Rs 657 million.
As per the ARKS technical analysis, the market formed a small bullish candlestick on the daily timeframe, making partial recovery from the previous losses. Nonetheless, the overall trend still remains bearish. Technical indicators also indicate seller's dominance in the present context. A breach of 1,160-point support mark might suggest further downfall. Otherwise, a bounce back can be expected from the current level.
