July 2: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) was significantly influenced by latest political developments. The stock market reacted strongly to an agreement reached late Monday night between the country's two major parties, the CPN-UML and the Nepali Congress.

The agreement to form a new government, with the CPN-UML taking nine ministries including finance, and the Congress taking ten ministries including home affairs, had an immediate impact on the market. Within just 1 minute and 23 seconds of opening of the market, the NEPSE index surged by 4%, triggering a 20-minute trading halt.

Upon reopening, the market continued its upward trajectory, rising by another 1% within 16 seconds, leading to a second trading halt for 40 minutes. Later, news that Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal would not resign immediately prevented a third circuit breaker. Despite this, the market maintained a positive trend throughout the day.

The NEPSE witnessed a substantial gain of 47.04 points or 2.29%, closing at 2100.43 on the third trading day of the week on Tuesday. A total of 315 scrips were traded through 60,720 transactions on the NEPSE. A total of 11,645,905 units of shares were exchanged, resulting into a total turnover of Rs 4.57 billion.

NRN Infrastructure and Development Limited(NRN) led the turnover with the total amount of 12 crores. Himalayan Distillery Limited(HDL) saw the highest gain of 8.54%, while Upakar Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited(ULBSL) faced the maximum loss of 6.46%.

In terms of sectoral performance, all sectors closed in the positive territory. Manufacturing and Processing gained the highest at 3.30%, while Mutual Fund achieved the least gain of 0.36%.