Himal Press 
KATHMANDU: The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index posted gains of 59.68 points as banking stocks surged significantly, closing trading at 2,424,32 points on Thursday – the last trading day of the week.
Although the index dipped initially, it moved on the green trajectory soon and continued the momentum throughout the session to eventually close 2.52% higher.
Share prices of 143 companies advanced on the day, while 95 declined and five remained unchanged. Share prices of five companies hit the positive circuit of 10% on the day. Share prices of all 19 commercial banks increased on the day, with Nepal Investment Mega Bank Ltd hitting the positive circuit of 10%.
Nepal Finance Ltd logged the highest turnover of the session with Rs 424.68 million worth of shares traded. Next were Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Ltd and Ngadi Group Power Ltd with turnovers of Rs 389.10 million and Rs 303.26 million, respectively.
Among trading groups, Finance and Hydropower sub-indices posted losses while other 11 ended the day in the green. The biggest gain came from the Banking sub-index which was up by a massive 6.28%. Next were Microfinance and Others sub-indices with gains of 2.77% and 203%, respectively.
Shares worth Rs 15.54 billion were traded on the bourse through 184,712 transactions.
