Kathmandu: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) index closed higher on Friday, the last trading day before Dashain. It was the seventh trading day in a row that the index went up.

NEPSE gained 8.23 points and closed at 2,634.17. The Sensitive Index rose by 1.97 points. The Float Index went up by 0.69 points and the Sensitive Float Index by 0.59 points.

Trading value also grew. On Thursday, shares worth Rs 4.71 billion were traded. On Friday, the total was Rs 4.88 billion. That came from 13.376 million shares of 348 companies, in 39,295 transactions.

Chirkhwa Hydropower had the biggest gain with its share price up 14.82 percent. Beni Hydropower Project rose by about 12.5 percent and Shubham Power went up by 8.5 percent. Himalayan Everest Insurance had the biggest fall, down 4.98 percent.

Ghalemdi Hydro led the market by turnover with shares worth Rs 204.9 million traded. Nepal Investment Mega Bank came next with more than Rs 180 million. Green Ventures followed with more than Rs 175 million.

Of the 13 sub groups, eight ended the day higher and five fell. The ones that rose were banking, development banks, hotels and tourism, hydropower, life insurance, manufacturing and processing, microfinance and mutual funds. Their gains were small.