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The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 5. 91 points to close at 2,056.88 points on Wednesday.

Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 1.  68 points to close at 395. 75 points.

A total of 4,640,844 units of the shares of 218 companies were traded for Rs 1. 93 billion.

Meanwhile, Himalayan Hydropower Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 9. 97 percent. Likewise, Himalayan Everest Insurance Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 9. 99 percent.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 2. 93 trillion.

Chinese navy ships remained active off both Taiwan’s east and west coasts on Wednesday morning, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters, as Beijing kept up military drills in protest against last week’s visit to the island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

A furious China has extended its largest-ever exercises around the self-ruled island it claims as its own beyond the originally scheduled four days. The drills last week have included ballistic missile launches, some of which flew over the island’s capital Taipei, and simulated sea and air attacks in the skies and waters around Taiwan.

Video released by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on Wednesday showed Chinese fighter jets scrambling and refuelling mid-air, as well as navy ships on what it said were drills around Taiwan.

The Eastern Theatre Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army said the drills were focused on blockades and resupply logistics, “under a complex electromagnetic environment to refine joint containment and control capabilities”, according to CCTV.

About 20 Chinese navy and Taiwan navy ships remained close to the median line of the Taiwan Strait, an unofficial buffer separating the two sides, as of Wednesday morning, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters.

Several other Chinese ships continued to conduct missions off Taiwan’s eastern coast, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Andrew Hsia, deputy chairman of the Kuomintang, Taiwan’s main opposition party, flew to China on Wednesday for what his party said was a pre-arranged trip to meet Taiwanese businesspeople.

Hsia told reporters he was not going to Beijing and did not have any official meetings arranged.

However, Taiwan’s government expressed “regret” at the trip coming amid the Chinese drills.

“At this moment, the Kuomintang still insisted on going to China, disappointing our people,” said Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen.

Taiwan’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that China was using the military drills as a game-plan to prepare for an invasion of the self-ruled island.

“It is conducting large-scale military exercises and missile launches, as well as cyberattacks, disinformation, and economic coercion, in an attempt to weaken public morale in Taiwan,” Joseph Wu said on Tuesday, without providing evidence or offering a timetable.

“After the drills conclude, China may try to routinise its action in an attempt to wreck the long-term status quo across the Taiwan Strait.”

Pelosi, a long-time China critic and a political ally of President Joe Biden, visited Taiwan last week on the highest-level visit to the island by an American official in decades, despite Chinese warnings. She said her visit showed unwavering U.S. commitment to supporting Taiwan’s democracy.

The price of gold has increased by Rs 200 per tola in the domestic market on Wednesday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers' Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 97, 100 per tola today.

Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 96, 600 per tola.

Similarly, the price of silver is being traded at Rs 1,230 per tola today.

Floods and landslides have caused damage in various places of Nuwakot district.

Vehicular movement has been disrupted in almost all the places after the floods washed away roads and bridges.

The floods in the eastern part of Nuwakot district swept away a bridge and also caused damage to a hydropower project.

The District Police Office, Nuwakot said that the floods inflicted damage to the dam of Satbise-based Buddhabhumi Hydropower Project.

DSP Rupak Khadka of the District Police Office, Nuwakot said that the three workers stuck in the dam were rescued.

Police said that the floods in the Tadi river caused damage in various places.

It has been learnt that the floods caused damage to the bridge connecting Satbise, Tadi 4 and Thaprek, Panchakanya-4, the bridge linking Apar, Panchakanya-2 and Bahunebesi, Tadi-5 and the bridge connecting Simaraphant, Panchakanya-1 and Suryamati, Likhu Rural Municipality-3 and Dhikure Bazaar.

The District Administration Office, Nuwakot said that initiatives are being taken to operate transport by removing the obstruction.

Chief District Officer Narayan Prasad Risal said that he has directed the concerned authorities to clear the obstruction.

Uttargaya Rural Municipality Chairman Madhav Aryal said that the landslides obstructed the Betrawati-Mailung-Rasuwagadhi road section.

He said that the pilgrims heading towards Gosaikunda to take part in the Janaipurnima fair have been stranded mid-way after the mudslide obstructed the road section.

Incessant rain since Tuesday night inundated over 800 houses at squatter settlements on the bank of Manohara river in Madhyapur Thimi Municipality-1.

Shree Bhakta Kasichhwa, member of the Province Sports Development Council, Bagmati Province and former chairman of the Bhaktapur District Sports Development Committee said that around 880 houses were inundated after flooded Manohara river entered into the settlements on Tuesday night.  

Nepal Police and Armed Police Force personnel have been deployed to carry out rescue operations.

DSP Raju Pandey, spokesperson at the Metropolitan Police Range, Bhaktapur said that the details of the damage destroyed in the water induced disaster are yet to be established.

He said that the swollen river swept away 80 houses.

Similarly, 20 houses at Duwakot Bensi in Changunarayan-1 were deluged and four persons were rescued, he said.

A massive fire broke out at a shoe factory in Balaju on Wednesday.

According to Dinesh Mainali, spokesperson at the Metropolitan Police Range, Kathmandu, police with the help of locals and fire engines are trying to douse the fire.

The reason behind the fire is yet to be established.

"Construction stops, mortgage stops. Deliver homes and get repaid!"

That was one of the chants disgruntled apartment buyers in China used at a protest in June. But their ire over unfinished homes didn't stop at signs and chants.

Hundreds of them stopped paying their mortgages - a radical step for China, where dissent is not tolerated, BBC reported.

A young couple who moved to Zhengzhou in central China told the BBC that after receiving the down payment last year, the developer withdrew from the project and construction stalled.

"I have imagined countless times the joy of living in a new home, but now it all feels ridiculous," the woman, who did not wish to be named, said.

A woman in her late 20s who also bought a home in Zhengzhou told the BBC that she too is ready to stop paying her mortgage: "After the project is fully resumed, I'll continue paying."

Many of them can pay but are choosing not to, unlike the US subprime mortgage crisis in 2007 when money was lent to high-risk borrowers who then defaulted, according to BBC.

They have purchased homes in roughly 320 projects around the country, according to a crowd-sourced estimate on Github where homeowners have been posting about their decision. But it's unclear how many actually stopped paying. 

The boycotted loans could total $145bn (£120bn), S&P Global ratings estimates. Other analysts say it could be even higher.

The revolt has rattled authorities, focusing attention on a market already under pressure from a slowing economy and a serious cash crunch.

More alarmingly, it has signalled a lack of confidence in one of the main pillars of the world's second largest economy, BBC reported.

"Mortgage boycotts, driven by deteriorating sentiment toward property, are... a very serious threat to the financial position of the sector," think tank Oxford Economics said in a recent note.

Furious allies of former President Donald Trump are demanding an explanation for the FBI's raid on his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, BBC reported.

The FBI and Department of Justice have yet to comment on the search, which Mr Trump disclosed on Monday evening.

It is reportedly linked to an investigation into his handling of classified and sensitive material.

It was the first time a former US president's home has ever been searched by law enforcement.

Reports suggest the FBI activity is connected to an investigation into whether Mr Trump, a Republican, removed classified records from the White House and took them to Mar-a-Lago.

The search was approved at the highest levels of the Department of Justice (DoJ), an unnamed US official told CBS News, the BBC's US partner. 

Republicans have depicted the investigation as politically motivated, with leading figures demanding a briefing from Attorney General Merrick Garland, head of the DoJ.

Mr Trump's former Vice-President, Mike Pence, who has subtly distanced himself amid speculation they may both launch 2024 White House runs, called on the attorney general to give "a full accounting" of why the search warrant was carried out. 

"No former President of the United States has ever been subject to a raid of their personal residence in American history," he wrote on Twitter.

Mr Trump's allies in Congress, meanwhile, vowed to launch an investigation if they win back control of the House of Representatives and Senate in November's mid-term elections, when the balance of power in Washington will be decided, according to BBC.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Tuesday that President Joe Biden was given no advance notice by the FBI of the raid, and that he "learned about this from public reports".

"The president was not briefed and was not aware of it. No-one at the White House was given a heads-up," she said. 

She told reporters that Mr Biden had gone to great lengths to preserve the independence of the justice department, adding: "President Biden believes in the rule of law."

The raid was first announced on Monday evening in a statement by the former president, who was at Trump Tower in New York City. 

Lindsey Halligan, a lawyer for Mr Trump, said she had received a call around 10:00 local time (14:00 GMT) that the FBI had a search warrant for Mar-a-Lago and that she should come to the property.

She said she saw 30 to 40 gloved FBI agents, some in suits and others dressed casually, and around 10 to 15 FBI vehicles, including a rental truck.

Ms Halligan told CBS she and another lawyer for Mr Trump were barred from entering the complex, and that the search was divided into three sections: a bedroom, office and storage area.

"Complete overkill," she said. "If they needed documents, they could have asked."

The Secret Service agents protecting Mr Trump were notified shortly before the warrant was served, an unnamed law enforcement official told CBS, BBC reported.