Debt office puts off a Rs 10 billion treasury bill auction after a system fault

Debt office puts off a Rs 10 billion treasury bill auction after a fault in its system

The Public Debt Management Office did not hold the Rs 10 billion treasury bill auction it had set for Monday. A technical problem in DOMS, its debt management and operations system, stopped it, Artha Sansar and Corporate Samachar reported. No new date was given.

Bidding was to run from 9 am to 3 pm under a notice the office issued on Asoj 30 (October 16), Artha Sansar said. Half the money, Rs 5 billion, was to be raised through a new 91-day bill. The other Rs 5 billion was to renew a 182-day bill.

The reports differ on the status. Artha Sansar's headline says the auction was cancelled, but its text says the bidding was postponed, which is also the word Corporate Samachar used. The office's own notice was not found in the reports read for this digest, so the digest calls the auction put off.

Neither report says what went wrong in the system beyond calling it a technical problem.

Why it matters: Neither report says how the Rs 5 billion 182-day bill due for renewal will be handled, or when the fault in DOMS will be fixed.

NEPSE slips 4.34 points as trading resumes after Dashain

NEPSE closed at 2,629.82 on Monday, down 4.34 points or 0.16 percent, in its first session since Friday, October 16, according to Himal Press and Merolagani. Turnover was about Rs 4 billion on 10.34 million shares in 38,788 transactions. The last session before the break did Rs 4.88 billion, ShareSansar reported.

More stocks fell than rose. Of those traded, 171 declined, 99 advanced and 6 did not move. Nine of the 13 sub-indices fell, led by development banks at 1.21 percent.

Trading gained most, 1.11 percent, and manufacturing and processing rose 1.03 percent, OnlineKhabar English reported. Within that group, Sonapur Cement rose 5.07 percent and Ghorahi Cement 4.47 percent, OnlineKhabar reported.

Gold rises Rs 3,000 to Rs 281,500 a tola

Gold rose Rs 3,000, or 1.1 percent, to Rs 281,500 a tola on Monday, and silver Rs 40 to Rs 3,995, the dealers' association said, OnlineKhabar English reported. Gold had dropped Rs 11,700 on Sunday, it reported then.

Nepal proposes November or December talks with Malaysia on worker recruitment, Post reports

The labour ministry has proposed a Nepal-Malaysia joint working group meeting in Kathmandu on November 18-19 or December 2-3, The Kathmandu Post reported on Monday. The proposal went through the foreign ministry. Malaysia has not replied.

Nepal wants the current recruitment procedures kept until the two sides agree a new arrangement, the Post said. It also wants the talks to finalise a draft renewing the 2018 labour memorandum of understanding.

Why it matters: Malaysia turned down Nepal's demand to open recruitment to all licensed agencies, the Post reported on October 11. The two prime ministers had agreed in September to settle the dispute, Kantipur reported.

Fewer goats reached Kalanki this Dashain and not all sold, Kantipur reports

About 16,000 goats were brought to the Kalanki market this Dashain, against 23,000 last year, and not all were sold, the market's chairman told Kantipur. Mutton sold for Rs 1,700 a kg, about Rs 300 more than last Dashain, the paper said.

Oil corporation puts its planned LPG pipeline and storage at Rs 25-30 billion, OnlineKhabar English reports

Nepal Oil Corporation has started a detailed project report on an LPG pipeline of about 131 km from Motihari in India to Sarlahi, the head of its LPG and Aviation Department told OnlineKhabar English. The department put the provisional cost at Rs 25 billion to Rs 30 billion. Financing has not been decided.

The plan includes 50,000 tonnes of storage, about a month of national demand, a bottling plant filling 25,000 cylinders a day and loading for at least 100 tankers a day. The corporation spends about Rs 6 billion a year moving LPG, the report said.

The idea is older. The two countries' ministers agreed to it in principle in December 2024, The Kathmandu Post reported then.

Why it matters: The corporation bought land in Sarlahi for LPG storage nearly a decade ago and has not started building, Republica reported in August. The OnlineKhabar English report gives no completion date.

Oil corporation tells LPG companies to make sure every cylinder sale carries a VAT bill

Nepal Oil Corporation wrote to all gas companies on Monday after complaints that sellers were not issuing VAT bills, Bizshala and OnlineKhabar English reported. The letter sets no deadline. It wrote on the same point in 2024 and 2025, OnlineKhabar English said.

Hydrology centre's white paper plans flood warnings in six river basins, Post reports

The Hydrology and Water Resources Research Centre's 2026-27 white paper says a $7.54 million project running to 2028 will install flood warning systems in six basins, and a $49.9 million project will lower four glacial lakes, The Kathmandu Post reported.