KATHMANDU: The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) rose 59.68 points, or 2.52%, on Thursday, sustaining its upward trend and breaching the 2,400-point threshold. NEPSE finished with 2,424.32 points. Trading activity also increased, with daily turnover reaching Rs 15.5 billion. This was led by the exchange of 39,938,237 shares across 312 businesses in 184,712 transactions, a significant rise over the previous day's turnover of Rs 12 billion.

With the exception of finance and hydropower, advances in the majority of industries highlighted the upward momentum. While the finance sector saw a decline following a substantial gain of 5.50% the day before, the hydropower sector, which had previously led in gains, also experienced a decline. On the other hand, industries with significant growth were microfinance, development banks, life insurance, and banking. Leading the gain was the banking sector with 6.28%; microfinance (2.77%), development banks (1.31%), and life insurance (1.29%) improved as well.

Among individual stocks, 143 companies saw gains, while 95 recorded declines and five remained unchanged. Notably, five companies, including Nepal Investment Mega Bank Limited (NIMB), Nepal Finance Ltd. (NFS), Ankhu Khola JalVidyut Company Ltd (AKJCL), Upakar Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited (ULBSL), and Three Star Hydropower Ltd (TSHL), saw their share prices surge by 10%. The total market capitalization of NEPSE stood at Rs 3.846 trillion, reflecting the robust performance of the market amidst the recent trading activities.