KATHMANDU: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index saw a slight improvement today, increasing by 2.80 points to settle at 2,658.66.

A total of 318 companies traded 33,637,966 shares in 105,635 transactions, amounting to a total turnover of NPR 13.18 billion.

Among the trading groups, the Finance sector declined by 1.22%, Hydropower by 1%, Investment by 0.13%, Manufacturing & Processing by 0.33%, and Others by 0.00%. All other sector indices recorded gains.

The Hotels & Tourism sector saw the highest gain, increasing by 4.69%. This was followed by Banking (0.48%), Development Bank (0.29%), Life Insurance (0.12%), Microfinance (0.59%), Mutual Funds (0.35%), Non-life Insurance (0.25%), and Trading (0.09%).

Shares of Pure Energy Ltd. and Peoples Power Ltd. hit the positive circuit breaker today, while Upper Hewakhola Hydropower Company Ltd. suffered the biggest loss, declining by 7.58%.

In terms of transaction value, Sanima Mai Hydropower Ltd. topped the chart with shares worth NPR 951.6 million traded. Himalayan 80–20 led in the number of shares traded, with 2.7 million shares changing hands.