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The price of gold has dropped by Rs 600 per tola in the domestic market on Wednesday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the yellow metal is being traded at Rs 110, 000 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 110, 600 per tola on Tuesday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 109, 500 per tola. It was traded at Rs 110, 050. Similarly, the silver is being traded at Rs 1,375 per tola today.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) gained 56.94 points to close at 2,186.36 points on Tuesday. Similarly, the sensitive index surged by 13.40 points to close at 412. 51 points. A total of 13,107,080-unit shares of 275 companies were traded for Rs 5. 47 billion. Meanwhile, Nirdhan Utthan Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited, Deprosc Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited, Himalayan Life Insurance Limited, Nerude Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited and Grameen Bikas Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Ltd were the top gainers today, with its price surging by 10. 00 percent. Similarly, Sikles Hydropower Limited was the top loser as its price fell by 3.88 percent. At the end of the day, total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 20 trillion.

The acute shortage of liquidity, rising interest rates, and the slowdown in demand have hit the industries in Koshi Province badly in the first half of the current fiscal year. As industries grapple with multiple issues, their capacity utilization dropped by 8.3 percentage points in the first half of the fiscal year (FY) 2022/23. The average capacity utilization of industries in Koshi Province stood at 40.6 percent in the first half of FY 2022/23 compared to 48.9 percent during the same period of the last fiscal, states a new report of Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). The decline in the capacity utilization of bricks, vegetable ghee, animal feed, cement, raw leather, synthetic fabrics, plastics goods, and iron rod production industries led to a decline in the average capacity utilization of the industries in Koshi Province. According to the NRB report titled “Provincial Economic Activities Report-Koshi Province,” industries producing bricks, vegetable ghee, soybean oil, and raw leather have experienced a decline in their capacity utilization in this fiscal. The NRB report says capacity utilization of the processed tea industry was highest at 85.4 percent while that of the bricks and vegetable ghee industries was the lowest at zero percent and 5.1 percent respectively. The capacity utilization of noodles increased by 80.7 percent, mustard oil by 79.9 percent, jute products by 74.5 percent, yarns by 65.7 percent, biscuits by 58.9 percent, and synthetic fibers by 58.1 percent. The central bank report shows the production of the sugar industry in Koshi Province surged by a whopping 190.7 percent and the rice industry by 68.4 percent. The production of the paper industry grew by 64.4 percent, the readymade garment industry by 26.5 percent, the GI wire industry by 20.2 percent, and the yarn industry by 11.6 percent. However, the production of the brick industry and soybean oil industry plunged by 100 percent and 89 percent respectively during the first half of FY 2022/23. Similarly, the animal feed industry and cement industry saw their production going down by 43.7  percent and 36.7 percent respectively. “The production of bricks has decreased mainly due to a delay in the supply of coal and a slowdown in market demand,” says the report. On the other hand, soybean industries’ capacity utilization suffered this year as soybean export to India slumped massively. With industries operating below capacity, the bank and financial institutions’ (BFIs) loan disbursement to them grew marginally in the first half of FY 2022/23. The BFIs’ loan disbursement to industries surged by 5.5 percent to Rs 127bn. The BFIs’ loan to the industrial sector had stood at Rs 121bn during the first half of FY 2021/22. The BFIs’ loans to the electricity and gas sector surged by 226.6 percent, the metal sector by 7.2 percent, and the agriculture sector by five percent. Of the total loans disbursed by the BFIs in Koshi Province, the share of the non-food-producing sector is the highest. The BFIs disbursed Rs 63.36bn (49.6 percent of total industrial loans) to the non-food-producing sector. The agriculture sector was the second highest recipient of industrial loans with the BFIs disbursing Rs 39.87bn in loans.

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma arrived in Kathmandu on Tuesday. The Chinese business magnate came to Kathmandu on a chartered plane from Bangladesh. It has not been revealed who Jack, also the founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, will meet in Nepal. Apart from Alibaba, he has also been operating the Jack Ma Foundation. He has been highlighting the problems of the rural areas through this foundation.