KATHMANDU, Aug 23: The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index gained 3.33 points this week, closing at 551.44 points on Thursday - the last trading day of the week. Commenting on Nepse´s moderate gain, Anjan Raj Poudyal, former president of Stock Brokers´ Association Nepal, said the benchmark index showed no significant ups and downs this week. “But daily transaction volume has increased to around Rs 220 million as positive fourth quarter results of listed companies has boosted investors confidence” added Poudyal. According to Nepse, a total of 2.62 million units of shares of 131 companies worth Rs 872.1 million were traded through 8,234 transactions in four trading days this week. Last week, shares worth Rs 634.5 million exchanged hands through 6,074 transactions. Hydropower group was the biggest gained of the week as its sub-index increased by a staggering 98.22 points to 1303.35 points. According to Poudyal, rise in share prices of Chilime Hydropower Company, which increased to Rs 1,575 from last week´s Rs 1,467, pushed the Hydropower sub-index to the green territory. Similarly, the sub-indices of Hotel and Production increased by 11.07 and 7.99 points, respectively, to 667.82 and 894.40 points. The sub-indices of Development Bank and Others group also moved in the green territory, gaining 1.93 and 1.17 points to close at 281.17 points and 672.82 points, respectively. Finance sub-index was up 0.52 points to 263.98 points. However, the sub-indices of Insurance and Commercial Bank groups were down by 4.91 points and 0.27 points, respectively, to 1215.66 and 534.95 respectively. The Trading sub-index remained unchanged this week.