Nepse rallies double digit with SCB announcement

KATHMANDU, Aug 12: Spurred by the announcement of bonus shares and cash dividend to share holders by Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) posted sharp gain on Wednesday after suffering losses for 11 days in a row. The benchmark Nepse rallied 3.91 percent or 26.98 points to close at 717.2 points on Wednesday with the cheers of SCB´s share holders infusing optimism among investors of other companies.
In absence of any stimulators for last few days, Nepse index had moved to red-territory as the index cat bounced in corrective mode.
“Announcement of SCB to provide 2:1 bonus shares and 50 percent cash dividend to its share holders encouraged not only its share holders but brought positive impact on other investors in getting such return from other companies,” Nawaraj Pokhrel, former president of Nepal Stock Brokers´ Association told myrepublica.com. “Mainly long-term investors, who want to hold shares on their possession are more enthusiastic with the price sensitive information from SCB,” added Pokhrel.
According to the Nepal Stock Exchange Ltd, price per share of SCB rose by Rs 542 to close at Rs 5,967 per unit. Total 3,809 units of SCB´s shares worth Rs 22.30 million were traded on Wednesday. Similarly, share prices of Nabil Bank and Everest Bank went up by Rs 443 and Rs 198 respectively. Share prices of Kumari Bank and Bank of Kathmandu also soared by Rs 40 and Rs 75 per unit respectively.
Gain in all trading groups contributed to the rally in the Nepse. Banking group, the key player in the secondary share market, rose 6.36 percent or 45.57 points to close at 762.13 points. Similarly, sub-indices of Development Bank and Hydropower groups shot up 9.63 points and 11.18 points to end 732.23 points and 955.81 points respectively.
Finance and Insurance groups´ sub-indices rallied by 2.14 points and 1.46 points to finish at 682.3 points and 648.63 points respectively. Likewise Manufacturing and Others groups also saw nominal gain by 0.58 points and 1.17 points to 434.9 points and 659.11 points respectively.
However, Pokhrel is skeptical the pace of Nepse´s rally will continue in coming trading sessions due to gap for next three days in trading. The rise in the share prices pushed up total turnover also to Rs 137.84 million with 180,602 units of share being traded through 1,038 transactions during the trading session. Total market capitalization, total worth of shares, reached to Rs 492.73 billion. - REPUBLICA