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The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 19. 12 points to close at 1,850.61 points on Sunday. Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 3. 14 points to close at 354. 78 points. A total of 2,015,959-unit shares of 263 companies were traded for Rs 608 billion. Meanwhile, Aatmanirbhar Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 8. 22 percent. Likewise, NMB Debenture was the top loser with its price dropping by 8. 83 percent. At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 2. 69 trillion.

The Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) has issued Letters of Intent (LOIs) for the license of securities businessmen (securities brokers and securities dealers) to additional 13 brokerage firms. The Sebon board meeting on Wednesday decided to issue the LoIs. The Sebon had issued LoIs to 16 firms earlier this week. The brokerage firms receiving LoIs on Wednesday are Sunrise Capital, JBNL Securities, Sharepro Securities, Stockesescarts Securities, Property Wizard Limited, Capital Hub Pvt Ltd, Milky Way Share Broker Company, Blue Chip Securities, Garima Securities, Kalas Stock Market, Money World Share Exchange, Subhakamana Securities, and Miyo Securities. After Sebon invited applications for new stock brokerage licenses, a total of 45 companies applied for the license. The Sebon on May 1 had issued LoI to 16 companies in the first phase. Of the 16 companies that received LoIs from Sebon for stock brokerage licenses, seven are the subsidiaries of commercial banks.

Police have arrested 10 Indian nationals who acquired Nepali citizenship by submitting false information. They were apprehended from the various places of Kathmandu, police said. Manoj KC, Chief at the Crime Investigation Office of the Valley said that they had obtained citizenship from Tarai districts by submitting fake documents at various times. Nepali citizenship, voter identity cards, passports and Indian Adhar Cards among others were recovered from the possession. The arrestees have been identified as Bharat Prasad Gupta (55), Rahul Gupta (30), Gyanmati Devi Gupta (50) and Gopal Gupta (50) of Bihar, India and currently residing at Sankhamul. Similarly, other detainees have been identified as Ram Sundar Gupta (44) of  Bihar and presently living at Lagankhel, Ram Prabesh Gupta (43) of Gongabu, Bharat Gupta (46) of Kalanki, Snehalata Gupta (42), Mindevi Gupta (49), and Rajesh Kumar Gupta (52). Police said that they had acquired the citizenship issued from the District Administration Office Rupandehi, Bara and Parsa among others. Police said that their names have been on the Indian Voter ID card since 2021 till now.  

Speaker Devraj Ghimire has urged the parties to finalize the leadership of the Parliamentary Hearing Committee within three days. During a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee held on Sunday morning, Speaker Ghimire directed the parties to finalize the leadership of two joint committees including the Parliamentary Hearing Committee within three days. Similarly, he said that the attendance of the lawmakers in the Parliament will be made public through the Parliament’s website.  

The newly appointed secretaries of the House of Representatives and National Assembly took the oath of office and secrecy on Sunday. HoR Secretary Padma Prasad Pandey and NA Secretary Surendra Aryal were sworn-in this afternoon. Speaker Deveraj Ghimire administered the oath to Pandey and NA Chairman Ganesh Prasad Timilsina to Aryal amidst a program organized in Singha Durbar. The duo were appointed as the secretaries after the five-year tenure of HoR Secretary Gopal Nath Gogi and NA Secretary Rajendra Phuyal had ended recently.    

After failing to launch the ‘Nepse 50' index, Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) is now planning for the 'Nepse 30' index. Making public the draft for the 'Nepse 30' index, Nepse has sought opinions and suggestions from the concerned stakeholders. The Nepse 30 index is also being created as a value-weighted index based on market capitalization by integrating free-float shares in the market. Nepse has envisioned Nepse 30 as an index based on the share trading of 30 selected companies. The new index will comprise the top 30 companies that meet the criteria set by Nepse among all the listed companies. However, Nepse 30 will not be a separate index. At present, there are 13 sub-indices in Nepse alongside sensitive, float, and sensitive float indices.  According to Nepse, companies from six sectors including banks and financial institutions, microfinance, insurance, hydropower, manufacturing, and trade & services will be included in the Nepse 30 index. Each of these sectors will have a minimum of one company to a maximum of eight companies in the index. Companies having profits in the last three years, having earnings per share of more than 10 percent of the paid-up capital, and having earnings per share higher than the inflation will be eligible for the 'Nepse 30'. Similarly, the companies are also required to have issued at least 25 percent of the shares to the general public and have at least 20,000 shareholders. Similarly, companies' average daily turnover in the last six months should be at least Rs 2.5m, and their average daily share trading of 5,000 units. The Nepse has said that it is introducing 'Nepse 30' with the aim of developing, operating, and managing indices to strengthen secondary market transactions. The Nepse 30 index will be implemented as an index based on market capitalization including immediately tradable (free float) shares. Nepse had previously prepared to bring the 'Nepse 50' index. However, it has now proposed 'Nepse 30' arguing that there could be problems in managing 50 companies. "We have prepared to bring Nepse 50. However, we studied all aspects and reached a conclusion that would be appropriate to bring 'Nepse 30' for now," said Murahari Parajuli, Spokesperson of Nepse.

The price of gold has dropped by Rs 1, 200 per tola in the domestic market on Sunday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the yellow bullion is being traded at Rs 110, 600 per tola today. The yellow metal was traded at Rs 111, 000 per tola on Thursday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 110, 050 per tola. Similarly, the silver is being traded at Rs 1,445 per tola today.

The weather across the country is likely to remain generally fair across the country today, according to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology. The Department said that there will be partly cloudy in the hilly areas and partly cloudy to mainly fair in other parts of the country. Brief rain and thundershowers are likely to take place at a few places in the hilly region of Koshi, Bagmati, Gandaki and Karnali provinces and at one or two parts of hilly regions. Tonight, there will be partly cloudy in the hilly areas of Koshi, Gandaki and Karnali provinces and partly cloudy to mainly fair in other parts of the country.