KATHMANDU: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index witnessed a significant rise on Sunday, the first trading day after the monetary policy for the fiscal year 2082/83 (2025/26) was made public.

Investor interest was notably high in the shares of banks and microfinance companies.

The NEPSE index surged by 29 points to close at 2,760.80. A total of 32.59 million shares from 311 companies were traded in 105,415 transactions, generating a total turnover of Rs 11.41 billion.

Banking and microfinance sectors posted the highest gains, rising by 3.37% and 3.50% respectively.

Other sectors also saw positive movements: development banks rose by 1.47%, finance by 1.87%, hotels and tourism by 0.48%, life insurance by 0.02%, manufacturing and processing by 0.31%, and mutual funds by 1.08%.

However, several sectoral sub-indices declined. Hydropower dropped by 0.83%, investment by 0.08%, non-life insurance by 0.34%, trading by 0.26%, and others by 0.27%.

Notably, NIC Asia Bank Limited and Khanikhola Hydropower Company Limited hit the upper circuit limit with strong gains.

On the downside, Himalayan Hydropower suffered the sharpest drop with a 9.93% decline in its share price. In terms of trading volume, NIC Asia Bank Limited topped the list with transactions worth Rs 371.5 million.

By the number of shares traded, Sunrise Blue Chip Fund led with 2.05 million units changing hands.