August 9: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index increased by 41.06 points, or 2.03 percent, and closed at 2060.91 on the fourth trading day of the week on Wednesday. The index had dropped up to 2,000 points in the first hour of trading when the market opened.

The market, which was on downward trend since Nepal Rastra Bank issued the monetary policy for the fiscal year 2023/2024, witnessed a substantial increase today.  The index that had reached above 2200 points had dropped for the 12 twelve ever since the monetary policy was issued by the central bank.

Since the market has fallen to the demand zone, investors and traders had increased their purchase. Since the volume has not gone up significantly, analysts have advised to watch tomorrow’s market for the confirmation of the bounce back.

The sensitive index increased by 1.94 percent, Float index surged by 1.95 percent, and Sensitive Float Index by 1.77 percent respectively.  

During the day's trading, a total of 265 scrips  exchanged hands through 77,501 transactions. The volume of shares traded amounted to 5,010,716, with a turnover of Rs. 1.88 billion. Among the stocks, IME Life Insurance Company Limited (ILI) shares traded the most and had the highest turnover, with an amount of Rs. 15.5 crores, and closed at a market price of Rs. 589.

In terms of individual stock performance, Himalayan Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited (HLBSL) recorded the highest gain of 9.83% for the day.

On the other hand, Century Debenture 2088 (CCBD88) witnessed the highest decline of 9.99%.

Only "Mutual Fund" closed in the red. The "Hotel and Tourism" sector had the highest gain, increasing by 3.50%.

However, the "Mutual Fund" sector registered the loss by 0.41 percent.