KATHMANDU: On the fifth trading day of the week, today (Friday), the Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) closed with a slight increase. After declining for four consecutive days earlier this week, the NEPSE ended its final trading session up by 1.54 points.

The index settled at 2,788.70 points, a marginal rise of 0.05 percent compared to the previous trading day. However, the Sensitive Index fell by 0.20 points to close at 468.07 points, representing a 0.04 percent decrease. While the float index saw a minor increase of 0.03 percent, the sensitive float index declined by 0.02 percent.

A total of 11,274,516 unit shares of 351 companies were traded on Friday through 75,229 transactions. This resulted in a total turnover of Rs 5.27 billion today. For comparison, the turnover earlier this week was Rs 5.434 billion on Monday, Rs 5.774 billion on Tuesday, Rs 7.813 billion on Wednesday, and Rs 5.095 billion on Thursday.

The share prices of 87 companies increased today, while 168 companies saw a decline and 14 remained unchanged. Out of 13 traded sectors, sub-indices for six groups rose while seven groups declined.

Specifically, the Commercial Bank and Development Bank groups both rose by 0.22 percent. The finance group index fell by 0.62 percent, while hotel and tourism rose by 0.32 percent and hydropower increased by 0.25 percent. The investment group decreased by 0.02 percent, and life insurance fell by 0.26 percent.

Furthermore, the manufacturing and processing sector rose by 0.66 percent, while microfinance dropped by 0.35 percent. The Mutual Fund group decreased by 0.01 percent, Non-Life Insurance by 0.06 percent, and the Others index by 1.02 percent. The Trading sub-index increased by 0.58 percent.

On Friday, three companies hit the positive circuit breaker: Palpa Cement Industries, Shikhar Power Development, and Mai Khola Hydropower. Investors in these three companies earned 15 percent in share value. Conversely, investors in Prime Debenture-2088 lost 4.59 percent.

In terms of turnover amount, Ridi Power Company led the market with Rs 273.8 million.

Regarding the volume of shares traded, National Hydropower Company was at the forefront. At least 790,049 unit shares of National were traded on Friday, with its final trading price maintained at Rs 312 per unit.