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In a volatile trading day that was marked by high volume selling of shares followed by a rapid recovery, Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) recorded a turnover of Rs 5.04 billion on Thursday, the highest daily turnover of the last 11 months. With the investors continuing buying of shares on the back of the Nepal Rastra Bank amending guidelines on working capital loans on Wednesday and hopes that banks will reduce interest rates for the month of Magh, the stock market ended the last trading day of the week with a gain of 18.09 points. The Nepse index opened at 2,135.23 points and went to an intraday high of 2,159.22 points before closing at 2,143.93 points. Buoyancy in the market can be gauged by the fact that the number of traded shares increased by 44 percent on Thursday. Volatility was seen in the market with the market hitting an intra-day low of 2,114.01 as many investors sought profit booking by selling the shares they had purchased in the previous days. A total of 12. 58 million shares were traded on Thursday compared to 8.73 million on Wednesday. Except for banking and other indices, all the other sub-indices turned green on Thursday with the hotel and tourism sub-index recording the highest 5.75 percent gain. Himalayan Distillery Limited recorded the highest turnover of Rs 431.9 million while the shares of Himal Dolakha Hydropower Company Limited (HDHPC) were the most traded. On Thursday, the share prices of five companies hit the positive circuit after increasing by 10 percent. The share price of Chandragiri Hills, Buddha Bhumi Hydropower, Dhaulagiri Microfinance, Khaptad Microfinance, and Srijansheel Microfinance increased by 10 percent. After the new government noted in its first meeting that problems in the country's capital market will be resolved in the coming days, the stock market bounced back 278.29 points in the last two weeks. The confidence of stock investors returned after the new government assured that it would address problems in liquidity management and will work to bring down the persistently higher interest rates. With the liquidity position in the banking sector gradually improving, stock investors said they are now getting phones from the banks and financial institutions (BFIs) requesting them to take margin loans.  

On Jan 3, Sachin Timalsena, a cricket commentator at Nepal T20 league, posted a video on his social media. Timalsena announced his resignation smelling “something fishy” in the tournament. He suspected spot fixing in the matches and offered some examples to prove his point. The same day, the match between Kathmandu Knights and Biratnagar Super Kings was cut short to nine overs because of disputes in the field. The players refused to do the toss for the match scheduled for 8:30 am at the TU Cricket Ground, saying they were not getting paid. Subsequently, the aggrieved parties sat for discussions with officials of Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN). The talks ended with a pledge to pay the teams and match officials through cheque.  After the match, the captain of Kathmandu Knights and former captain of Nepal national team Gyanendra Malla said the organizers and team owners both were out of contact and nobody had taken responsibility for paying them. Malla said members of his team were approached for match fixing, adding that they had reported the matter to the anti-corruption unit of the league. Subsequently, Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane ordered an inquiry and the Central Investigation Bureau has taken up the case.  A number of questions have arisen after this incident.  How did this happen? Why? And who is responsible? Is the Nepali cricket fraternity on a regressive road, again? CAN, in 2020, had entered into a 91-page formal agreement with Indian Seven3Sports. Per the deal, Seven3Sports enjoys strategic, commercial and advisory rights of the Nepal T20 league, the first-ever such tournament organized with direct involvement of CAN. The current mess has raised questions on the credibility of the cricketing body. Some sections of the cricketing fraternity had opposed the deal, pointing that Seven3Sports won’t be able to live up to CAN’s expectations, given its past records.  At that time, neither the National Sports Council nor the Ministry of Sports felt the need to intervene, though the deal was in contravention of laws of Nepal, which state that Nepal Sports Council must get approval from the government of Nepal before entering into any agreement with other international cricketing bodies.  The latest episode has tarnished the image of Nepali cricket. Yet another sad part of this saga is that CAN has not provided a good working environment for international coaches in Nepal.  In 2016, the International Cricket Council had suspended CAN for breach of ICC regulations. After three years, ICC reinstated Nepal as a member of cricket’s governing body on a conditional basis. Restrictions over economic funding were fully lifted in June 2022. This incident comes at a time when Nepali cricket was on the recovery path.  Failure to take action against those responsible for the latest incident of foul play may again lead to ICC action against the Nepali cricket. So, it’s time for responsible authorities like CAN, NSC and the ministry to wake up and take corrective action in the interest of Nepali cricket and its fans.   

For the first time in its history, Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) organized a franchise cricket league. But the CAN initiative had a scandalous start, thanks to an alleged match-fixing scandal. What’s more, teams complained that they were not paid and that those responsible for paying them had gone out of contact after the match.  In the wake of these controversies, the Ministry of Home Affairs has ordered an inquiry and the Central Investigation Bureau has already initiated a probe.  Against this backdrop, Chumbi Lama, a CAN member, spoke to AP1 TV, sister broadcaster of The Annapurna Express. Excerpts:  Why did the Nepal T20 league go to an Indian company? In 2020, CAN signed a formal agreement with India’s Seven3Sports, which gave the latter strategic, commercial and advisory rights for almost 10 years. I consider it a black day for the Nepali sports fraternity. I knew from the start that this deal will create misunderstanding in the future with regard to rights given to the company and lack of transparency surrounding international events. So, I had suggested CAN to act as per Nepal’s relevant laws. No one heeded those suggestions at that time.   Who was responsible for the agreement and what roles did you and others have to disagree upon it? The work ethics of Seven3Sports and CAN didn’t match. I and other board members warned the committee to strike a deal with the company, to no avail. CAN signed the deal with Seven3Sports in haste before its annual general meeting. Basically, five members of CAN’s executive board, including chair, vice chair and secretary, worked out these processes.  Can you elaborate on the (Jan 3) dispute in the field? The organizers, ie Seven3Sports, went out of contact and they didn’t provide salary to match officials and players. So, the players and the officials delayed the game in protest.  How do you feel about this incident? Youths like us have joined this field to contribute to Nepali sports, especially cricket. We must put an end to incidents like these. This particular incident has made me sad. Cricket brings families together, forges brotherhood all over the world. Incidents like this must not happen again. My best wishes for the progress of CAN. What’s the mental state of players after the incident? Haven’t talked to the players, but I know everyone is frustrated. So, a solution must be worked out as soon as possible. CAN must investigate the incident properly and report the findings to the authorities concerned.  Police and CIB are also probing the case, so let’s hope for the best. Nepali cricket has a very bright future but we must work hard for the same.  

The draft of the Common Minimum Program of the government has been prepared. A meeting of the task force held on Friday has decided to table the draft in the meeting of the senior leaders to be held on Saturday, Rastriya Swatantra Party spokesperson Mukul Dhakal said. Emerging from the meeting of the task force held in Singhadurbar today, he said, “The task force has prepared the draft. Basically, issues of development are included in the Common Minimum Program. Likewise, the draft has given priority to good governance.” The Common Minimum Program includes programs such as corruption control, health education, service delivery and sanitation among others. Good governance, protection of nationality, improvement of the economy, prosperity and completion of the peace process are included in the priority program of the government. The task force was formed under the headship of Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel. Barshaman Pun of the CPN (Maoist Center), Mukul Dhakal of the Rastriya Swatantra Party, Dhawal Shumsher Rana of the Rastriya Prajatantra Party and Rakan Chemjong are the members of the task force.    

Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel and US Ambassador to Nepal Dean R Thompson held a meeting on Friday. During the meeting held at Singhadurbar, the duo discussed contemporary political issues. It has been learnt that Minister Poudel and Ambassador Thompson also talked about the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) project. Saying that Nepal and the US have a strong relationship, Ambassador Thompson expressed his belief that the relation will be strengthened further in the coming days.

The price of gold has dropped by Rs 800 per tola in the domestic market on Friday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the yellow bullion is being traded at Rs 102, 300 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 103, 100 per tola on Thursday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 101, 800 per tola today. Similarly, the silver is being traded at Rs 1, 365 per tola.

The government made public the decisions of the Cabinet meeting held on Thursday. Government spokesperson and Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel made public the decisions on Friday. He said that the Cabinet meeting has given approval to carry out the Organization and Management Survey to establish a customs office at Pokhara International Airport on the proposal of the Ministry of Finance. Similarly, the government has decided to hold the National Assembly by-election on February 8. The government has also decided to provide Rs 1 million each to the family of Sanjeeb AD and Chetan AD who died during the elections to the House of Representatives and Province Assembly. Likewise, the meeting has decided to provide financial support to bring the body of Nirakar Pandey, who died in a fire in Cambodia, to Nepal. On top of that, the government has decided to appoint Toyama Raya as Finance Secretary and Ram Prasad Ghimire as Revenue Secretary.  

Six persons died and 18 others were injured when a bus met with an accident at Khursani in Rainadevi Chahara Rural Municipality-8 of Palpa on Thursday. Palpa police confirmed that six persons died on the spot when the bus (Ga 1 Kha 4977) towards Khursani, Satyadevi, Palpa from Saljhandi, Rupandehi fell some 100 meters down the road at around 10 pm yesterday. Birendra Thapa, Information Officer at the District Police Office, Palpa, Guna Kumari Gaha (45), Dan Kumari Khatri (21), Khem Kumari Rana (54), Nirmala Ghimire (33), Suruma Ghimire (11), and Bima Pandey (11) died in the incident. Police said that the injured are undergoing treatment at the Lumbini Provincial Hospital in Butwal and Edmond City Hospital in Jitgadhi.