Kathmandu: Nepal’s stock market closed higher on the last trading day of the week, breaking a two day losing streak.

The main index, NEPSE, had fallen for the previous two sessions. On Friday, it turned around and gained 27.94 points to close at 2,559.49.

The rise came after Finance Minister Dr. Swarnim Wagle said the government would bring a special reform package of 10 to 12 points to fix weaknesses in the capital market and help it grow. He said past problems in the market were caused by irresponsible activities and made clear that the government now plans to push policy reforms so the situation does not get worse.

Along with the index, other measures also rose. The Sensitive Index went up by 3.98 points, the Float Index by 1.88 points and the Sensitive Float Index by 1.43 points.

Trading Volume Also Went Up

The total value of shares traded increased as well. On Thursday, shares worth about 4.09 billion rupees changed hands. On Friday, that number climbed to about 4.36 billion rupees with 1.2 million and 89,000 shares of 345 companies traded in 49,006 transactions.

Top Gainers and Losers

Upakar Laghubitta Financial Institution had the biggest gain of the day with its share price rising 10.53 percent. Abhiyan Laghubitta Financial Institution’s shares also gained more than 10 percent while Sindhu Bikas Bank rose about 9.5 percent.

On the losing side, Multipurpose Finance Company saw the sharpest drop, falling 5.71 percent, the biggest decline among stocks traded that day.

Companies With the Highest Trading Value

By trading value, Liberty Energy topped the list with shares worth about 366.6 million rupees traded. NRN Infrastructure and Development followed with trading worth more than 185 million rupees while Reliance Spinning Mills crossed 145 million rupees in trades.

All Sectors Gained

All 13 sub indices of the market rose on Friday. The hydropower sub index gained the most, up 1.83 percent. Investment and non-life insurance sub indices each rose more than 1.5 percent while the development bank and trading sub indices each gained more than 1 percent.