As if triggered by the Nepal Rastra Bank's decision to hand over Nepal Bank Limited (NBL) under a management contract to the private sector, investors have begun to see a future for the bank, which had been dismissed by auditors early this year as "technically insolvent".

NBL stocks were top sellers in the first full week of business at the Nepal Stock Exchange which had shut down for an extended Dasain holiday. NBL stock transactions accounted for 98 percent of the total banking sector shares that were traded this past week. The value of the stock also went up from Rs 331 a week ago to Rs 655 when the market closed on Friday. A total of 18,739 NBL shares exchanged hands last week.