Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: Investor sentiment improved sharply on Sunday after Kathmandu Mayor Balen Shah reached an agreement with the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) and the country’s three largest political parties expressed commitment to participate in the House of Representatives elections scheduled for March 5.
As a result, the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) closed 47.55 points higher at 2,633.42 points. This was the highest close since December 2. This also marked the largest intra-day gain since November 24, when the market had risen by 50.44 points. With the gain, the index crossed the psychological support level of 2,600 points for the first time since December 21.
Balen and the RSP signed the agreement on Sunday morning. Under the deal, Balen will be projected as the party’s prime ministerial face, while RSP Chairperson Rabi Lamichhane will continue to lead the party as its chair.
Likewise, on Saturday, senior leaders of the Nepali Congress, CPN-UML, and the Nepal Communist Party (NCP), expressed commitment to participate in the polls, ending prolonged uncertainty over whether the elections would proceed as scheduled.
Market strength was supported by a sharp rise in trading activity on Sunday. Total turnover climbed to Rs 5.53 billion from Rs 3.19 billion in the previous session, while the volume of shares traded nearly doubled to 11.35 million through 88,102 transactions.
Prices of 238 listed companies advanced during the session, while 21 declined. Union Hydropower Ltd led the turnover chart with Rs 276.03 million worth of shares traded. Manjushree Finance Ltd and Saptakoshi Development Bank followed with turnovers of Rs 248.9 million and Rs 227.53 million, respectively.
All sectoral indices ended the day in positive territory. The Finance sub-index posted the strongest gain of 2.7%. The Others and Development Bank sub-indices were next with increases of 2.55% and 2.28%, respectively. The market heavyweight Banking sub-index also closed 1.66% higher.
