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The price of gold has increased by Rs 400 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 248, 900 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 248, 500 per tola on Tuesday.

Similarly, the silver is being traded at Rs 3, 240 per tola.

Nepal’s top-tier football competition, the Sahid Smarak A-Division League, will not begin as scheduled. The All Nepal Football Association (ANFA) announced on Tuesday that the league will not be held in a home-and-away format this season.

“Based on suggestions from the clubs, we have decided not to organize the league in a home-and-away format this time. It may be implemented from the next season,” said ANFA General Secretary Kiran Rai during a press conference.

He added that ANFA will hold further discussions with the clubs after the Chhath festival. “Both the National League and A-Division fall under the top-tier structure. We will decide which one to organize and how after further consultations,” Rai said.

The 2022/23 season of the league concluded on 6 June 2023, and no new season has started since. Church Boys United were the last A-Division League champions.

With no domestic league taking place, several Nepali footballers have joined foreign clubs. National team captain Kiran Chemjong and forward Anjan Bista are currently playing in the Bangladeshi league, along with other Nepali players.

The Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon) has decided to implement the recommendations made by a government task force formed to restore investor confidence and reform the country’s capital market. The task force, led by Sebon’s Acting Executive Director Rupesh KC, had submitted its report to Minister for Finance Rameshore Prasad Khanal on Sept 24. 

Minister Khanal formed the panel on Sept 19 to identify systemic and procedural reforms needed to stabilize and strengthen the capital market. According to Sebon, the task force’s suggestions cover short-, medium-, and long-term measures. These include amendments to existing regulations, easing certain provisions for investors and modernizing trading systems.

With Sebon’s decision to implement the capital market reform task force’s recommendations, new companies entering the stock market through IPOs and those raising funds via rights issues will now be required to meet certain standards. These criteria will be enforced jointly by the finance ministry and Sebon within a year. In line with the recommendations made by the panel, Sebon plans to amend the Securities Registration and Issue Regulations to raise the minimum public offering (IPO) requirement from 10 percent to 20 percent. Similarly, the lock-in period for promoters’ shares will be made more flexible by allowing phased release instead of lifting restrictions all at once.

The capital market regulator will also move forward with the establishment of a Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) trading platform, as recommended by the task force. Revisions to the rules governing the trading of promoter shares in banks, financial institutions and insurance companies are also on the cards.

For margin loans, Sebon will ensure that investors who pay the due interest by mid-January 2026 will not face additional penalties, even if the payment deadline of mid-November is missed. Short-term measures to be implemented within three months include introducing a margin trading system through brokers and standardizing the Investor ID (IGIN) process managed by CDS and Clearing Ltd.

The task force has also suggested maintaining the Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index as an “all-equity index” and developing a new benchmark based on tradable shares. It has also suggested reviewing the circuit breaker rules. According to the panel’s recommendation, listed companies will be required to reconcile and directly pay the dividend tax on the bonus shares they distribute.

In the longer term, the task force has called for separate specialized laws for securities market regulation, investor protection and trust management, as well as measures to bring Nepse’s trading system in line with international standards and facilitate trading of government and corporate bonds.

Speaker Devrah Ghimire has started holding consultations with the political parties on contemporary political situations.

The then chief whips and whips of the political parties representing the dissolved House of Representatives (HoR) attended the discussion being held at the Speaker's office, Singhadurbar, informed Speaker's press advisor Shekhar Adhikari.

However, representatives of the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) did not attend the discussion.

The discussion between the Speaker and chief whips and whips has been taken meaningfully when the political parties including Nepali Congress and CPN-UML are holding their office-bearers' and Central Committee meetings.

Finance Minister Rameshwor Prasad Khanal, who is now in Washington DC to participate in the annual meetings of World Bank and International Monetary Fund, attended several meetings and discussions on Monday and Tuesday.

On Tuesday, Minister Khanal had a meeting with Deputy United States Trade Representative Bryan Switzer. During this meeting, bilateral trade and tax policies were discussed.

The Nepali Embassy in the US stated that the discussion was fruitful. The meeting was attended by officials from both the United States and Nepal.

Similarly, on the same day, Minister Khanal discussed cooperation with Abdul Rahman Al-Marshad, Chief Executive Officer of the Saudi Fund for Development.

Earlier, he also held discussions with representatives of various international organizations that have been partnering in Nepal's development.

The meeting was attended by Nepal's Ambassador to the United States Lok Darshan Regmi, Embassy representatives, members of Minister Khanal's delegation and other staff.

The weather will remain clear across the country today.

The Department of Hydrology and Meteorology's weather forecasting division has stated that there is no significant weather system affecting the country.

According to the division, today in the afternoon, there will be partial clouds in the hilly areas of Koshi, Gandaki, and Sudurpashchim Provinces, while the rest of the areas will generally experience clear weather.

There is a possibility of light rain at one or two places in the hilly region of Koshi Province.

Similarly, the division has stated that the weather will generally remain clear across the country tonight.

District Administration Office (DAO), Kathmandu is resuming services related to passport application from today.

Issuing a notice, the district administration said the passport application related services will be provided in two shifts from 7 am to 7 pm today.

The online slot of the application for the service, which is set to start from limited application stations, will open at 5 pm today.

It is noted that applicants should be physically present at the time specified in the application form taking into consideration high demand from service seekers and the limited application stations.

The service has been disrupted after the incident of arson and vandalism in the DAO building during the Gen Z protests on last September 8-9.

Assistant Chief District Officer and Information Officer at Kathmandu DAO Muktiram Rijal informed that passport services will operate in two shifts from today.

Nepali Congress President Sher Bahadur Deuba has entrusted Vice President Purna Bahadur Khadka with the responsibility of acting party president.  

Addressing the meeting convened at the party's central office in Sanepa today, President Deuba announced that Vice President Khadka has been assigned the responsibility of acting president, citing health issues.

President Deuba addressed the meeting at the outset.

It was adjourned immediately after this to reconvene at 1 pm on October 16.

The meeting was attended by the current central committee office-bearers, central members, and invited central members.