British businesses ‘lazy and fat’ Page III Britain as a trading nation has become “too lazy and too fat” and business leaders are more interested in playing golf on Friday afternoons than in seeking new export markets, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox was recorded saying.

Ins IdePokhara businessmen plan to pressure govtBusiness people from Pokhara are considering pressuring the govern-ment to shelve its plan to bring a reg-ulation that bars tourist vehicles from serving domestic tourists. They are planning to visit the Prime Minister, Tourism, Transportation and Law Ministers to urge them not to intro-duce such a regulation. As around 50 percent of the passengers of these tourist vehicles are domestic tourists, transporters are worried about a pos-sible loss. Given the government has announced Bikram Sambat 2073 as “Ghumfir Barsa”, barring domestic tourists from travelling on vehicles with green plates is incongruent, according to Bindu Kumar Thapa, president of Pokhara Chamber of Commerce and Industries (PCCI). “The government shouldn’t bring such a regulation as it will affect the tourism industry negatively,” said Thapa. Pg: III

Nepse closes week 3.22 pts higherNepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index gained 3.22 points over the week to close at 1,823.05 points on Thursday, the last trading day of the week. The stock index opened at 1,819.83 points on Sunday and jumped 19.07 points on Monday before losing points for rest of the week. The week’s biggest loss 9.97 points came on Wednesday. Anjan Raj Poudel, managing director of Thrive Brokerage House, said the market’s growth rate has slowed after heavy losses a few weeks ago. “But the mar-ket is gradually heading towards sta-bility,” he said. Of the nine trading groups, indices of six ended in posi-tive territory. The insurance sub-in-dex witnessed a whopping growth of 82.76 points, becoming the biggest gainer. Pg: IV

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2016 (26-05-2073) kathmandupost.ekantipur.com

moneymoneyfinance&economyfinance&economy

kathmandupostthecross currency

US Dollar 106.93

Euro 120.55

Pound Sterling 142.17

Japanese Yen 10.46

Chinese Yuan 16.01

Qatari Riyal 29.37

Australian Dollar 81.44

Malaysian Ringit 26.27

Saudi Arab Riyal 28.51How to read tHe tableThe chart shows the rates of nine world currencies. Move across the table to find rates of exchange between any two currencies. One unit of the currency mentioned vertically is worth that amount in the currency mentioned horizontally.

USD EUR JPY GBP CHF CAD AUD INR NR

NR 106.9300 120.5500 10.4600 142.1700 109.8500 82.6300 81.4400 1.6015

INR 66.7127 75.1430 0.6488 88.8040 68.5120 51.4663 50.6470 0.6244

GBP 0.7510 0.8459 0.0073 0.7714 0.5798 0.5707 0.0113 0.0070

JPY 102.7100 115.7400 136.9863 105.5600 79.3100 77.9800 1.5413 0.0956

EUR 0.8880 0.0086 1.1822 0.9113 0.6849 0.6736 0.0133 0.0083

USD 1.1261 0.0097 1.3316 1.0273 0.7722 0.7591 0.0150 0.0094

F o r e X

Exchange rates fixed by Nepal Rastra Bank

traffic jam

n Vehicles are stuck in a traffic jam on the Jalbire section of the Narayangarh-Mungling road on Saturday. Post Photo: Bimal Khatiwada

C M Y K

the NeW YORK tIMeSSAN FRANCISCO, SEPT 10

Apple is rethinking what it plans to do about self-driving cars, just as other big tech companies appear ready to plow ahead with competing efforts.

In a retrenchment of one of its most ambitious initiatives, Apple has shuttered parts of its self-driving car project and laid off dozens of employees, accord-ing to three people briefed on the move who were not allowed to speak about it publicly.

The job cuts are the latest sign of trouble with Apple’s car initia-tive. The company has added resources to the project—code-named Titan—over the last two years, but it has struggled to make progress. And in July, the company brought in Bob

Mansfield, a highly regarded Apple veteran, to take over the effort.

Apple is not the only big tech company pursuing autonomous driving technology. Alphabet, the parent company of Google, has tested self-driving cars on the road for years, but its focus has been on designing the underlying software and systems to make that technology work. Tesla has a self-driving feature within its cars that has come under scruti-ny in recent months after a fatal accident was connected to its use.

Separately, Uber, in a limited test in Pittsburgh next week, plans to start picking up passen-gers in self-driving cars. Last month, Uber also acquired the start-up Otto for about $700 mil-lion, a purchase that brought with it some of the top minds in

robotics and autonomous technol-ogy. And automakers like Ford, General Motors and Fiat Chrysler have all said they expect to put a number of self-driving vehicles on the road in five years or less. But Apple has stood out from the others mainly—as is often the case with the compa-ny—for its secrecy. Apple has never acknowledged that it is working on a car, though Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, has said the automotive industry is undergoing a drastic change

and, earlier this year, he seemed to confirm the existence of the car project at its annual share-holders’ meeting.“Do you remem-ber when you were a kid, and Christmas Eve, it was so exciting, you weren’t sure what was going to be downstairs?” Cook said at the meeting. “Well, it’s going to be Christmas Eve for a while.”

Apple employees were told that the layoffs were part of a “reboot” of the car pro-ject, the peo-ple briefed on it said. An Apple spokes-man declined to comment. Under Mansfield, Apple

changed the focus of the project, shifting from an emphasis on designing and producing an auto-mobile to building out the under-lying technology for an autono-mous vehicle. Bloomberg earlier reported the strategy change.

Electric cars rely not on the internal combustion engine, but on technologies

more prevalent in the con-sumer electronics world:

batteries, sensors and software. In addition, self-driving cars could

change the traditional notions of public trans-

portation and car own-ership.

Apple started looking seriously

into building an elec-tric car about two

years ago. It expanded

the project quickly, poaching experts in battery technology and so-called machine vision, as well as veterans from the automobile industry.

The team also pulled in staff members from other divisions across Apple, growing to more than 1,000 employees in about 18 months. But as the project grew rapidly, it encountered a number of problems, and people working on it struggled to explain what Apple could bring to a self-driv-ing car that other companies could not, according to the people briefed on the project.

Steven Zadesky, a longtime Apple employee initially charged with heading the car effort, left the company for personal reasons this year. His departure opened the door for Mansfield, who worked closely with Apple’s

co-founder, Steve Jobs, but left the company’s executive team in 2013. He had all but retired from Apple except for the occasional visit to the company’s headquar-ters in Cupertino, Calif. He was coaxed into coming back to over-see the project, which could rep-resent a new market for Apple as sales of its flagship iPhone are slowing.

Apple has also made some headway in the space. The com-pany has a number of fully autonomous vehicles in the mid-dle of testing, using limited oper-ating routes in a closed environ-ment, according to people briefed on the company’s plans. Like other companies in the space, that technology is likely a num-ber of years away from seeing mainstream consumer use, they added.

Apple rethinking strategy on self-driving vehiclesd ow n s i z i n g

Demand up for agri insurance productsPOSt RePORtKATHMANDU, SEPT 10

Demand for agriculture-related insurance products is on the rise, as the government subsidy on the pre-mium amount has worked as an incentive for those engaged in the agriculture sector to purchase these schemes.

Non-life insurance companies insured agricultural assets worth Rs6 billion in the last fiscal year that ended in mid-July, as against Rs3.2 billion recorded in fiscal year 2014-15, according to the latest data of the Insurance Board (IB), the insurance sector regulator. “Demand for agri-culture-related insurance products is growing rapidly because the govern-ment is offering subsidy on premium of these insurance policies,” said IB Deputy Director Kundan Aryal.

The government currently offers subsidy equivalent to 75 percent of the premium amount.

In the last fiscal year, policyhold-ers paid Rs276.7 million in premium, of which Rs207.5 million came in the form of subsidy from the govern-ment. In 2014-15, the premium collec-tion hovered around Rs142.5 million.

Non-life insurers have been sell-ing various agricultural insurance schemes since the introduction of the Crops, Livestock and Poultry Insurance Directive in January 2013. These schemes can be purchased by paying an annual premium equiva-lent to 5 to 6 percent of the sum insured. These schemes then provide protection to assets, such as crops, poultry, livestock and fisheries, against various risks, such as losses caused by diseases and natural disas-

ter. Last fiscal year, the non-life insurance companies provided pro-tection to livestock worth Rs4.7 bil-lion, up 89 percent than in 2014-15. This amount makes up 78 percent of the agricultural assets insured by insurance companies last fiscal. These assets were insured by collect-ing a premium of Rs232.9 million.

The companies also insured poul-try worth Rs564.4 million—a growth of 43 percent than in 2014-15. In the

same year, crops worth Rs438.7 mil-lion were also insured, up 198 per-cent year-on-year. Also, fisheries worth Rs290 million were insured, as against Rs168.2 million in 2014-15.

Last year, the biggest chunk, or 29.41 percent, of the agricultural assets were insured by NLG Insurance, followed by Siddhartha Insurance (15.88 percent) and Shikhar Insurance (9.52 percent), show the IB data.

Tunnel work likely to be completed by June 2017BIBeK SUBeDIKATHMANDU, SEPT 10

Melamchi Drinking Water Project, one of the most-await-ed infrastructure projects in Nepal, has some good news to share, as the tunnel construc-tion work is likely to be com-pleted by June 2017.

In the month of August alone, the contactor dug more than a kilometre of the tun-nel, raising hopes the parched Kathmandu Valley would get water from the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded project within a year. The project’s performance in August was the best since the initiation of the construction work in 2001.

Although the government had claimed the first phase of the project would be complet-ed within April 2016 and the Valley would get 170 million litres of water per day from the Melamchi River in Sindhupalchok, it could not deliver on its promise due to last year’s devastating earth-quakes and trade embargo imposed by India.

Things, however, have changed of late.

According to project offi-cials, construction of around 20km of the 27.5km diversion tunnel of the project has been completed.

“If the construction moves ahead at this pace, the remain-ing 7.5km of the tunnel could be built by June 2017,” said

Ghanshyam Bhattarai, pro-ject chief. “Once the construc-tion of the tunnel is over, it will take an additional three to four months for the project to supply water to Kathmandu. So, if everything goes as planned, we will be able to supply Melamchi’s water to Kathmandu’s citizens by next year’s Dashain.”

The ADB has also expressed satisfaction over the progress. “We are fully satisfied with the pace at which the contrac-tor is working,” said ADB Country Director Kenichi Yokoyama.

The fate of the project, how-ever, depends on swift resolu-

tion of a problem that has emerged at a section of the tunnel due to “weak rock condition”. According to a project official, rock con-dition at a 1,500m section is very weak, which is “making digging difficult”.

“The section is formed of calcareous soil and it is difficult to build a tunnel there because the soil condition is weak,” said Bhattarai. “In that section, we can only dig 4-5m of tunnel a day. We have to be very careful while digging that section. Nevertheless, we need to find a solution soon to com-plete the project in time.”

Yokoyama also said one needs to be very careful while building long tunnels like Melamchi’s. “The construction at times can be risky and it should be built carefully,” he said.

melamchi drinking water project

Trucks with Nepali ginger allowed to enter IndiaPOSt RePORtKATHMANDU, SEPT 10

Even as the Indian customs office allowed trucks loaded with Nepali ginger to enter its territory on Friday, it is not certain whether the move her-alds a permanent end to the ban placed on entry of the Nepali spice to India.

On Friday, 16 trucks con-taining Nepali ginger entered India through the Kakadbhitta-Panitanki bor-der point.

Indra Budhathoki, general secretary of Nepal Ginger Producers and Traders Association (NGPTA), claimed Indian customs offi-cials informed him that the trucks were allowed to pass through the border, as the ban on the entry of Nepali ginger had been lifted by India.

But neither Nepali nor Indian government officials could confirm whether the ban had been permanently lifted. Nepali officials, who

were following developments on the matter, could not be contacted on Saturday.

An Indian government offi-cial, who did not want to be named, on the other hand, acknowledged Friday’s entry of Nepali ginger to India, but could not confirm wheth-er the move marked an end to the ban.

Indian customs had pre-vented Nepali ginger from entering its territory 13 days ago after the Indian Food Safety and Standards Authority said Nepali agro products were laced with pes-ticide called Aldicarb.

Indian authorities also said the ban was imposed to coun-ter growing infiltration of Chinese ginger in Nepal, which were then finding their way to India.

Following the incident, the government had also formed a seven-member taskforce to prepare a detailed report on the problems encountered in ginger exports and make

appropriate recommenda-tions for their resolution.

India is the major market for Nepali ginger. Almost 94 percent of the shipments to India consist of fresh ginger and the rest are processed gin-ger. Ginger is grown on more than 23,826 hectares across the country. As per the statis-tics of the Ministry of Agricultural Development, the country produced 242,546 tonnes of ginger last fiscal year, 60 percent of which was exported.

Globally, Nepal is the third largest ginger producer after China and India. According to Nepal Ginger Profile 2016, which was produced jointly by the UK Aid-funded Samarth-Nepal Market Development Programme and the NGPTA, the ginger grown in Nepal is high in oil and oleoresin, and it can be sold to large industrial buyers in India and other countries if output is increased and quali-ty is ensured.

Permanent lifting of ban, however, not certain

figures for 2015-16 Sum insured Premium Subsidy ClaimLivestock Rs4.7 billion Rs232.97 million Rs174.73 million Rs146.08 millionPoultry Rs564.49 million Rs15.76 million Rs11.82 million Rs2.55 millionCrops Rs438.72 million Rs21.63 million Rs16.22 million Rs9.73 millionFisheries Rs290.05 million Rs6.33 million Rs4.74 million Rs1.21 millionTotal Rs5.99 billion Rs276.7 million Rs207.53 million Rs159.58 million

Source: Insurance Board

In the month of August alone, the contactor digs

more than a kilometre of the tunnel

In a retrenchment of one of its most ambitious initiatives,

Apple has shuttered parts of its self-driving car project and laid off dozens of employees

moneyeconomy IISunday, September 11, 2016 | the kathmandu post

C M Y K

US jobless claims fallWASHINGTON: The num-ber of Americans filing for unemployment bene-fits unexpectedly fell last week, pointing to sus-tained labour market strength even as the pace of job growth is slowing. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits decreased 4,000 to a sea-sonally adjusted 259,000 for the week ended Sept.3, the lowest level since mid-July, the Labour Department said on Thursday. Claims for the prior week were unrevised. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast first-time appli-cations for jobless bene-fits rising to 265,000 in the latest week. It was the 79th straight week that claims remained below the 300,000 thresh-old, which is associated with robust labour mar-ket conditions. That is the longest stretch since 1970, when the labour market was much small-er. A Labour Department analyst said there were no special factors influ-encing last week’s claims data. (REUTERS)

Navistar revenue downFRANKFURT: Truck and engine maker Navistar International Corp reported a fall in revenue for the sixth straight quarter due to lower truck sales and said one of its units had received a subpoena from the United States defence department. Volkswagen AG earlier this week agreed to an engine tech-nology and purchasing alliance with Navistar and bought a 16.6 percent stake in the US firm. The net loss attributable to Navistar widened to $34 million, or 42 cents per share, in the third quar-ter ended July 31, from $28 million, or 34 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue fell 17.7 percent to $2.09 billion. Analysts on average had expected the company to earn 14 cents per share on reve-nue of $2.18 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. (REUTERS)

TCS says clients delay spendingMUMBAI: India’s Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) has warned that its financial sector clients in the United States are holding back on discretionary spend-ing, sending its shares tumbling as much as 6.4 percent to a six-month low. The country’s top software services export-er said its internal data as of end-August indicat-ed that banking and financial services clients were being cautious and have in some cases been holding back on discre-tionary spending. This has led to a “sequential loss of momentum”, TCS said in a securities filing late on Wednesday. The United States is the big-gest market for India’s more than $150 billion software outsourcing sec-tor, followed by Europe. Brokerage firm Ambit said lower revenue growth and adverse exchange rate move-ments would likely hurt the profitability of TCS. It estimated revenue to grow 1-2 percent. (REUTERS)

news digest

REUTERSNEW YORK, SEPT 10

Business-jet makers such as Bombardier Inc and Textron Inc are offering more discounts and incentives to prevent buyers from cancelling orders or delay-ing purchases amid sluggish global growth, analysts and dealers said.

Higher discounts on older mod-els that are bloating inventories, as well as on some newer models, are expected to keep prices depressed and weigh on margins through the rest of the year and possibly in 2017 as well.

Planemakers have little choice. Billionaires in key markets like China, Brazil and Russia have tightened their purse strings in response to weakening econo-mies. Oil tycoons have retrenched

in the face of low oil prices, while companies have slashed budgets.

“Business conditions in the executive jets industry have prov-en to be more difficult than expected thus far in 2016, with continued pressure on new jet sales coming from high levels of pre-owned jet inventories and a highly competitive environment,” Marco Pellegrini, CEO of Embraer Executive Jets, told Reuters.

Business jet deliveries are expected to drop 11 percent in 2016, according to Jefferies ana-lyst Howard Rubel. That would be the steepest percentage decline since 2009.

Prices are being further pres-sured with many aircraft owners putting planes on sale, partly to avoid high maintenance costs—typically $1 million-$4 million

annually—adding to the glut in the market. These jets have long shelf lives and planes that are 5-10 years old are considered as good as new.

This has driven planemakers to cut prices by at least 5-15 per-cent on the list prices of mostly midsize and large business jet models, the most severe in the past four years, according to ana-lysts and dealers.

Discounts of about 5 percent on average were the norm a cou-ple of years ago. “If you are not discounting today, you are not in business,” said Dennis Rousseau, president of Aircraft Post, which provides market data on business jets. Sometimes the discounts are much higher. Some of Bombardier Inc’s mid-sized Learjet 75s from the 2015 invento-ry, which had a list price of about

$13.8 million, are now being sold for about $9 million, according to sources who have run inventory

checks.Jet companies are also offering

an increased number of pilot

training packages, parts-service credits and trade-in options to attract customers. But these efforts are unlikely to bear fruit anytime soon and things could get worse, analysts said, citing fewer-than-needed production cuts as the biggest reason.

A spokesman for Bombardier did not have anything to add beyond information already available publicly.

At least five General Dynamics Corp large-cabin Gulfstream G650 jets from 2015 and 2016, listed at $64.5 million, were sitting in hangars as of June end, said a McLean, Virginia-based dealer who did not want to be named.

“Most of them are owned by Chinese companies, contracted for these three-four years ago. Now it’s time to deliver and they can’t afford to take delivery,” the

dealer said, adding that the jets could have been sold by now but that he could not confirm the sales. General Dynamics declined to comment on the story. It is dif-ficult to predict how many planes these companies have in their inventories because they don’t disclose inventory numbers.

South Korea spy agency seen concerned over North’s advances in miniaturizing warheads

Still, there are some bright spots on the horizon. The North American business jet market—the biggest in the world—has proven resilient despite the oil price slump. “The North America economy differs from emerging markets by having a record-set-ting stock market level and high corporate profits,” said Brian Foley, business aviation market analyst at Brian Foley Associates.

Business jet makers deepen discounts to fly out of turbulences low d ow n

20,000km of high-speed rail track

n A high-speed train (Front) leaves Zhengzhou East Railway Station, central China’s Henan Province, Sept. 10, 2016. A new high-speed railway (HSR) line between Zhengzhou, capital of central Henan Province, and Xuzhou in eastern Jiangsu Province started its operation on Saturday, making the total length of high-speed track in the country over 20,000 km. Trains running on the 360-kilometer-long track travels at a speed of 300km per hour at the early stage of operation. Xinhua

EU FinMins line up behind Apple rulingASSociATEd PRESSBRATISLAVA, SEPT 10

Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem urged Apple Saturday to “get ready” to pay up, as he and counter-parts from other EU nations lined up behind a finding that the technology giant owes bil-lions of euros due to more than a decade of improperly low taxation.

Apple’s bill could reach 19 billion euros ($21 billion) with interest, and both the compa-ny and Ireland, Apple’s European headquarters are appealing the European Commission ruling. But on the last day of an EU finance ministers’ meeting focused on ways to harmonize tax rules for international companies, Dijsselbloem told reporters that these “have an obligation to pay taxes in a fair way.”

“International tax loop-holes are a thing of the past,”

he said. Apple will have to pay back taxes both in the United States and Europe, he added, “so get ready to do that.”

Philip Hammond, his British counterpart, said the EU was keen “to make sure that international corpora-tions pay the right tax at the right place”. “That’s the fair way to do it, and we are going to make sure it happens,” Hammond said.

The Apple decision is only one of several faulting inter-national companies for exploiting European exemp-tions to pay minimal taxes. Both Starbucks and Fiat Chrysler are contesting rul-ings handed down last year that they are each about 30 million euros ($33 million) in

arrears. While Ireland would reap a huge windfall from the extra money, it opposes the ruling because it has also ben-efited from the setup. Multinationals have such huge revenue that small coun-tries can reap big gains even from low taxes, and they also gain from the jobs created.

Other countries are expressing interest in any payout, however. Austrian Finance Minister Hans Joerg Schelling said Austrian, Italian and France tax author-ities are following the case closely with the option of posting claims, and a senior OECD official attending the meeting suggested they could have right to do so.

Angel Gurria, who heads

the 35-nation Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, cited the EU Commission ruling on Apple and invited other nations that might have a claim “to come forward.”

Greece was also on the agenda of the two-day meet-ing. Ministers and senior EU officials in the Slovak capital urged Athens to speed up enactment of economic reforms so it can get its hands on the next batch of bailout cash before the end of October.

Greece, which depends on the money due from the bail-out to stay afloat, has recently fallen short of reform com-mitments, stoking concerns of a flare-up in the country’s debt crisis. Because it hasn’t delivered on the reform prom-ises it has made, it can’t yet get hold of the 2.8 billion euros ($3.2 billion) due from this current phase of its bail-out program.

the Apple decision is only one of several faulting international companies for exploiting

european exemptions to pay minimal taxes

Nobel economist says botched globalisation led to Trump, BrexitAgEncE FRAncE-PRESSEPARIS, SEPT 10

Nobel prize winning econo-mist Angus Deaton says bil-lionaire Donald Trump’s US presidency campaign and Britain’s shock vote to quit the EU are symptoms of a botched drive to integrate globally.

In an interview with AFP, the British-US poverty expert warned that the Republican candidate in November’s US elections was “not a good voice” for those neglected by the global movement towards economic and financial inte-gration. Nor, added the Princeton University profes-sor, is a so-called Brexit likely to benefit its supporters.

Inequalities have grown since the 1970s and become more marked with a globalisa-tion drive that hits certain parts of the population, main-ly in rich countries, Deaton told AFP, on the publication in French of his 2013 book “The Great Escape”.

“If we don’t deal with that, if we don’t somehow make globalisation benefit those people too or we share the prosperity that comes through globalisation, then I think that we are in considerable danger,” cautioned the 71-year-old Nobel laureate.

And populist politicians such as Trump in the United States, or Britons’ unexpected decision in June to slam the door on 40 years of European Union membership are “part of the result of not handling globalisation well”, he said.

“Trump is not a good voice for those people. I don’t think Brexit is going to help people in Britain,” he added, saying however that globalisation was not solely to blame. A lot of people in America and Europe feel that their govern-ments are not representing them very much.”

The academic, who has spent more than 30 years in the United States, won the Nobel Economics Prize last year for his groundbreaking

work on poverty. He was hon-oured for using household surveys to show how consum-ers, particularly the poor, decide what to buy, and how policymakers can help them.

Hailed for its eloquent writ-ing and deep research, “The Great Escape” outlined how overall human welfare—espe-cially longevity and prosperi-ty—has risen spectacularly over time, even though the inequality gap between rich and poor has widened.

Times of weak economic growth exacerbate the problem, while the bailing out of banks after the 2008 financial crisis, the worst economic turbulence since the Great Depression, still lingers bitterly in peo-ple’s memories, he said.

“If you think about those bailouts that happened in 2008, that was a situation in which the government gave at our expense enormous sums of money to some of the rich-est people who have ever exist-ed on Earth,” said Deaton.

“And I think that many

Americans are very, very angry about that still. Not that they would have liked the whole economy to crash, but they feel these people have misbehaved in one way or another and they were being richly rewarded for it while they got very little or in fact they got unemployment,” he added, pointing to inade-quate regulation of financial institutions.

Political fundraising in the US, which Deaton described as “really crazy”, is also to blame, he said, with elected politicians spending around eight hours every day raising money. “The result, of course, is that they spend most of their time worrying about the interests of the people whose money comes in.”

The European Union is also leaving its citizens feeling dis-illusioned, he said. “The European project has become problematic (because it’s) now pushing to the point that peo-ple think that their interests are not being taken into account.”

n Nobel prize winning economist Angus Deaton

luxury wheels

n People look at the 2016 McLaren 675LT Spider car at the 7th Luxury and Supercar Weekend event in Vancouver, Canada, on Friday. Xinhua

n A file photo shows visitors walking past a Bombardier Global 6000 aircraft displayed at the Singapore Airshow at Changi Exhibition Centre. REuTERS

money economyIII the kathmandu post | Sunday, September 11, 2016

C M Y K

addressing infra gap

plane restaurant

n World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim (right) and New Development Bank President KV Kamath shake hands after signing a memorandum of understanding in Washington DC on Friday. World Bank and New Development Bank—set up by the BRICS nations—have agreed to strengthen their cooperation in addressing global infrastructure needs. Xinhua

n A general view of the exterior of a ‘plane restaurant’ in Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province, on Friday. The restaurant, a retired aircraft bought from an Indonesian airline, can accommodate 70 customers after renovation. Xinhua

Turkey arrests pastry magnateISTANBUL: A Turkish court Thursday ordered the arrest of the chair-man of a famed pastry manufacturer and the CEO of a clothing com-pany as well two dozen other businessmen for alleged links to the failed July 15 coup. Faruk Gullu, the chairman of the Faruk Gulluoglu chain of sweet shops and restaurants, was remand-ed in custody by an Istanbul court on charg-es of being a member of the group of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen which is blamed for the failed coup, the state-run Anadolu news agency said. Faruk Gulluoglu is one of Turkey’s best known suppliers of bak-lava, the traditional sweet pastry that rounds off meals, and its main shop is a magnet for tourists in Istanbul. Nejat Gullu, Faruk’s brother, had also been detained but was ordered to be released by the court, the agency added. (AFP)

news digest

Agence FrAnce-PresseWASHINGTON, SepT 10

Formula One’s takeover this week by the Liberty Media opens a new frontier for auto racing’s top flight in the United States, where it has struggled to gain a foothold.

But Gene Haas, the machine tool magnate and founder of the only US Formula One team, said the motorsport’s reputation preceded it. “When you hear ‘F1’ you know exactly what it is, a global racing series that showcas-es the latest technology and attracts the best talent in engi-neering and design,” said Haas. “It has a tremendous amount of appeal and it was obviously very appealing to Liberty Media. We look forward to working with them.”

Mario Andretti, one of only two American drivers ever to win the Formula One World Championship since its creation in 1950, said the takeover by Liberty, owned by US media mogul John Malone, marks a new chapter in its history.

“Overall, being here in America, to see that America is playing a huge role in Formula One, I think that for us it’s a great story,” he told AFP.

But of the 21 Grand Prix races this year, just one will be held in the United States: the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas on October 23.

Bernie Ecclestone, the head of Formula One, would love for more to be staged in the United States. But finding sponsors will-ing to take a chance on sport that currently has limited appeal

among Americans—even though globally its broadcasts draw 400 million viewers—has been difficult.

Today, it falls to Haas to culti-vate interest among American racing fans. Yet his team, Haas F1, employs a French driver, Romain Grosjean, and a Mexican, Esteban Gutierrez, for lack of a top-notch US driver willing to try their hand at Formula One.

The last F1 victory for an American driver dates back to 1978, the year of Andretti’s coro-nation. Last year an American driver, Alexander Rossi, entered several F1 Grand Prix races only to slink away with little fanfare. Yet he then rose to glory in American open-wheel racing in May, winning the Indianapolis 500.

As for constructors, while

Ford’s famed Cosworth V8 may have had a big F1 presence from the 1960s to the 1980s, only Haas is now in the game. Well versed in the technology himself having made his fortune in machine tools, Haas quickly understood that producing his own open-wheel car would come at a pro-hibitive cost. In his first season

this year, he opted for a chassis built by Italy’s Dallara housing a Ferrari engine.

Americans love motorsport—the success of home-grown Nascar proves it. But their cars resemble commercial sedans, rac-ing in tight huddles with frequent crashes—the antithesis of the F1 single-seaters, which whip past in

single file.The Indianapolis 500, part of

the American single-seat series IndyCar, draws several hundred thousand spectators every year. There, however, drivers ride in virtually identical cars, which helps level the playing field while at the same time making races more spectacular.

This again is a considerable difference with Formula One, where teams are always attempt-ing to eke out a technological advantage over their competitors.

Chase Carey, the new Formula One chairman, will bring his broadcast and marketing know-how to Liberty Media. He helped develop Fox Sports inside the Rupert Murdoch media empire, which happens to air Nascar races in the US.

Malone also has a position in

the electric racing class Formula E. While this “clean” motorsport still has a ways to go to gain popularity, some imagine Formula E races as curtain raisers for the Formula One Grand Prix events.

As for Andretti, he does not see Formula One moving toward IndyCar’s use of identical vehi-cles in order to please crowds. “They must maintain the techni-cal aspect that they’re known for,” he said in an interview.

But, should the costs for racing teams to enter Formula One drop—as the case has been with Ferrari’s work with Haas—Andretti says he could imagine his own son Michael, himself a former F1 driver as well as IndyCar and Formula E team owner, come knocking on Formula One’s door.

With its American takeover, Formula One looks to US marketm e rg e rs a n d acq u I s I t I o n s

Pokhara businessmen plan to pressure govtBIrenDrA KcKASKI, SepT 10

Business people from Pokhara are considering pressuring the government to shelve its plan to bring a regulation that bars tourist vehicles from serving domestic tourists.

They are planning to visit the Prime Minister, Tourism, Transportation and Law Ministers to urge them not to introduce such a regulation.

As around 50 percent of the passengers of these tourist vehicles are domestic tourists, transporters are worried about a possible loss.

Given the government has announced Bikram Sambat 2073 as “Ghumfir Barsa”, bar-ring domestic tourists from travelling on vehicles with

green plates is incongruent, according to Bindu Kumar Thapa, president of Pokhara Chamber of Commerce and Industries (PCCI). “The gov-ernment shouldn’t bring such a regulation as it will affect the tourism industry nega-tively,” said Thapa.

According to entrepre-neurs, tourism industry in Pokhara is yet to recover from the impact of last year’s earth-quakes and subsequent Indian trade embargo.

“Currently, the number of domestic tourists outnumber foreigners in Pokhara ,” said Som Thapa of Pokhara Tourism Council. “If domestic tourists are not allowed from travelling on tourist buses, tourism will be severely affected.”

There are around 2,000 vehicles with green number plates—1,300 of them in Kathmandu, 173 in Narayani and 206 in Pokhara, according to Kedar Nath Sharma, past president of Nepal Association of Tour and Travel Agents (NATTA).

“Around Rs15 billion has been invested in such vehicles and the investment is increas-ing,” he said. “If they are not allowed to carry domestic passengers, the business will collapse.”

According NATTA General Secretary Subas Bhadari, around 50 percent of the pas-sengers carried by the tour-ists bus are domestic tourists.

Tourism entrepreneurs criticised government for only listening to transport

syndicates. “Instead of bring-ing policies and regulations that promote the tourism industry, the government is destroying an industry that is just coming out from the mess, on its own,” said Ram Chandra Sharma, president of Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal. “The government doesn’t have other options than promoting tourist vehicles.”

Snajeev Karki of Pokhara always takes tourist bus while travelling to Kathmandu.

“Tourist buses, unlike other public vehicles, never carry passengers more than their seat capaci-ties and they never over speed,” he said. “Therefore, tourist buses are safer than other public vehicles.”

barring nepalis from using tourist buses

Yahoo chief exec could reap $44m if she leaves after saleAssocIAteD PressSAN FRANCISCO, SepT 10

Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer stands to collect a $44 million severance package if she leaves after Verizon completes its purchase of the once-mighty internet company.

Mayer hasn’t announced plans to leave, but industry observers say she’s unlikely to stay after the $4.8 billion sale closes early next year.

The 41-year-old executive stands to collect $3 million in cash and almost $41 million worth of stock options and awards under a “golden para-chute” agreement described in a regulatory filing Friday.

In a filing last spring, Yahoo said Mayer could walk away with $55 million in compensation, but the esti-mates can vary with the value of Yahoo’s stock and the date she leaves.

Mayer has been CEO for four years but failed to reverse a long-standing slide in Yahoo’s advertising business. After an unsuccessful effort to spin off its investment in the Chinese internet giant Alibaba, Yahoo Inc. began

entertaining offers for its core business earlier this year.

Yahoo weighed a variety of offers, according to the proxy statement filed Friday. One was a merger proposal from Yahoo Japan, a separate com-pany that Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo co-owns with Japanese tech giant SoftBank. Another bid

came from an unnamed group that asked Yahoo co-founder David Filo to consider financ-ing its bid.

Filo, who sits on Yahoo’s board of directors, agreed to talk with the group and recused himself from partici-pating in further board dis-cussions about a possible sale, according to the statement.

Cuba: Easing of US embargo has not helped economyAssocIAteD PressHAVANA, SepT 10

President Barack Obama’s easing of the US trade embar-go on Cuba has had virtually no positive effect on the island’s economy, Cuba’s top diplomat asserted Friday.

Presenting Cuba’s annual report ahead of a UN vote on condemning the embargo, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said the sanctions cost his country $4.6 billion last year. The total cost of the 55-year-old embargo now stands at $125.9 billion, he added.

The presentation of Cuba’s update on the embargo is an annual ritual driving home to a mostly domestic audience Havana’s message that US sanctions are to blame for most of the country’s prob-lems. The report contains a detailed accounting of both specific damage from the embargo, such as US govern-ment fines on Cuba’s business partners, and scenarios in which Cuba faults the US for

the loss of hypothetical busi-ness. For example the report estimates that Cuba could sell 2.5 million cases of Havana Club rum in the United States each year and factors in that theoretical lost revenue, $105 million, to the total damages in the report.

Rodriguez praised Obama for allowing easier US travel to Cuba, permitting commer-cial flights and attempting to

ease financial transactions with Cuba, among other meas-ures. However, he said, “there’s been no fundamental change in the application of the blockade, and because of that, I can say, there hasn’t been a greater economic impact of the executive actions until now and there won’t be until we see bigger steps.” Rodriguez acknowl-edged the problems of Cuba’s

centrally controlled economy, which is struggling to increase productivity in the face of an outdated and inefficient bureaucracy and low state sal-aries that lead many employ-ees to steal from their work-places or accept small bribes in order to get by. “No one’s ignoring or aims to hide our problems, our limitations, our mistakes,” he said. “But nei-ther can we diminish the impact of the blockade.”

The United Nations votes next month on an annual reso-lution on condemning the embargo that usually passes with overwhelming support. Last year the United States considered abstaining for the first time, before voting against it.

As reporters were leaving Rodriguez’s press conference at the Cuban Foreign Ministry, US Charge d’Affaires Jeffrey DeLaurentis’ car was seen dropping him off. US and Cuban diplomats have begun meeting frequently on a wide array of topics since the dec-laration of detente on Dec. 17.

British businesses ‘lazy and fat’reUtersLONDON, SepT 10

Britain as a trading nation has become “too lazy and too fat” and business leaders are more interested in playing golf on Friday afternoons than in seeking new export markets, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox was recorded saying.

Fox, who was a prominent campaigner for Britain to leave the European Union and says the country must forge new trading relationships with the rest of the world, was recorded making the com-ments during a drinks party with activists.

Trade was one of the main issues at stake in Britain’s EU referendum on June 23, which delivered the Brexit vote. “This country is not the free trading nation that it once was. We have become too lazy and too fat on our successes in previous generations,” he told members of the right-wing group Conservative Way

Forward on Thursday.“What is the point of us

reshaping global trade, what is the point of us going out and looking for new markets for the United Kingdom, if we don’t have the exporters to fill those markets?”

Those campaigning to stay in the bloc argued an exit would be profoundly damag-ing to trade, while those in favour of Brexit said it would give Britain the opportunity to look beyond Europe and export to other, more dynamic parts of the world.

But Fox complained of “companies who could be con-tributing to our national pros-perity but choose not to because it might be too diffi-cult or too time-consuming or that they can’t play golf on a Friday afternoon”.

A journalist from the Times

newspaper who was present at the event recorded the remarks, which were widely played on British news bulle-tins on Saturday.

Lawmakers from across the political spectrum criticized Fox, who was a medical doctor before he went into politics. “Britain is a fantastic trading nation which Brexit has harmed. Liam Fox must talk up UK business,” said Anna Soubry, a Conservative who campaigned for Britain to stay in the EU ahead of the ref-erendum, on Twitter.

The opposition Labour Party said in a statement Fox’s comments were “offen-sive and crass” and were symptomatic of the Conservative government’s “shambolic approach to Brexit”. “I ran a successful business, have never played

golf on a Friday afternoon, hope I’m neither fat nor lazy. Liam Fox views are ignorant and rude,” Labour lawmaker Jo Stevens said on Twitter.

Some business leaders also reacted angrily. “It’s just abso-lutely disgusting. How dare he?” Richard Reed, co-founder of smoothie maker Innocent Drinks who was part of the official campaign to remain in the EU, told BBC radio. “He’s a representative of us, of this country, and he turns around and slags us off, calling us fat and lazy.”

Spokeswomen for Prime Minister Theresa May’s Downing Street office and for Fox’s Department for International Trade declined to comment.

A spokesman for Fox did not respond to requests for comment. He was quoted by the Times newspaper as say-ing Fox was “committed to supporting the full range of businesses in the UK so that they can take best advantage of the opportunities.

Fox, who was a prominent campaigner for Britain to leave the european Union and says the country must forge new trading relationships with the rest of the world

n A woman wearing a dress with a US flag motif walks to a musical concert on the outskirts of Havana, Cuba on Friday. aP/RSS

n Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer

moneystock IVSunday, September 11, 2016 | thekathmandupost

C M Y K

POST REPORTKATHMANDU, SEPT 10

Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) index gained 3.22 points over the week to close at 1,823.05 points on Thursday, the last trading day of the week.

The stock index opened at 1,819.83 points on Sunday and jumped 19.07 points on Monday before losing points for rest of the week. The week’s biggest loss 9.97 points came on Wednesday.

Anjan Raj Poudel, managing director of Thrive Brokerage House, said the market’s growth rate has slowed after heavy losses a few weeks ago. “But the market is gradually heading towards stability,” he said.

Of the nine trading groups, indices of six ended in positive territory. The insurance sub-index witnessed a whopping growth of 82.76 points, becoming the biggest gainer. Other gainers were hydropower, hotels, development banks, trading and finance companies.

Manufacturing and banking sub-indi-ces shed 57.21 and 2.13 points, respec-tively. The trading sub-index remained stable at 202.79 points.

The sensitive index that measures the

performance of ‘A’ class companies inched up 0.39 points to close at 395.57 points.

The overall market turnover stood at Rs 8.52 billion, up 23.33 percent

compared to the previous week.In terms of transaction volume,

Nepal Bangladesh Bank topped the list, recording a turnover of Rs768.82 mil-lion. Other top companies in terms of

transaction volume were Nepal Investment Bank, Sunrise Bank, Everest Bank and Siddhartha Bank.

Nepse closes week 3.22 pts higherTOP FIVE COMPANIES IN TERMS OF TURNOVER

Company Turnover (in Rs. millions) Nepal Bangladesh Bank 768.82Nepal Investment Bank 475.85Sunrise Bank 461.58Everest Bank 433.94Siddhartha Bank 373.03SECTORS THAT WENT UP

Sector Points GainedInsurance Companies 82.76Hydropower Companies 66.72Hotels 24.1Development Banks 4.08 Others 0.57Finance Companies 0.53SECTORS THAT WENT dOWN

Sector Points GainedManufacturing 57.21Commercial Banks 2.13

promo event

n A participant promotes Hemp products to provide joint relief and medicinal use for dogs at the Cannabis World Congress in Los Angeles, California, on Saturday. The three-day event provides education, resources and tools for those involved in the fast growing cannabis industry in the US. AFP/rss

Seoul leads Asia equity dropAgEncE FRAncE-PRESSEHONG KONG, SEPT 10

South Korean stocks and the won led most Asian markets lower Friday after the North conducted another nuclear test, while trading was also hit by worries over global central bank policy easing.

Pyongyang said it had conducted a “successful” fifth nuclear test, which South Korea said was its largest-ever. The news intensified worries about geo-political tensions in the region as world powers including China struggle to rein in Pyongyang’s erratic behaviour.

Seoul’s KOSPI was down 1.5 percent in the afternoon while a Bank of Korea decision not to cut interest rates was unable to prevent the won sinking almost one percent early on, before it edged back slightly.

The losses led a sell-off around most of the region with Sydney and Singapore each down 0.9 percent, while there were

also sharp falls in Taipei, Jakarta and Manila. Japan’s Nikkei recovered from early losses to end marginally higher.

Adding to pressure on equities were worries about central bank inaction in dealing with a slowdown in the global economy. On Thursday, the European Central Bank opted against fresh stimu-lus, with its president Mario Draghi calling for “patience” to see the effect of vast amounts of cash already injected into the system.

While he had not been expected to announce any action, there was disap-pointment Draghi did not provide any forward guidance, while some analysts said the bank was possibly planning new measures as its bond-buying pro-gramme runs out of assets to buy.

Tokyo-based dealers are also con-cerned at the lack of movement from Japan’s central bank ahead of a policy meeting later this month, despite anoth-er weak growth reading Thursday and a general malaise across the economy.

“The ECB, and many central banks now, look to be taking more of a meas-ured approach to additional policy eas-ing compared with the not-too-distant past,” Philip Borkin, a senior economist at ANZ Bank New Zealand, said in a client note. “This is only natural, of course, as monetary policy delves fur-ther into the unknown.”

Hong Kong stocks closed up 0.8 per-cent at a 13-month high as traders wel-comed news that mainland Chinese authorities would allow the country’s insurers to invest in the city’s stock market. The gains extended the previ-ous day’s advance fuelled by news of the first rise in Chinese imports for 22 months. Shanghai fell 0.6 percent despite figures showing the producer price index—a measure of the cost of goods at the factory gate—fell at its slowest pace in more than four years. On currency markets, the euro rose to $1.1275 from $1.1261 in New York follow-ing the ECB’s decision not to ease policy.

REUTERSNEW YORK, SEPT 10

A rare run of outperformance by US bank shares appears to have hit a wall as a spate of soft readings on the econ-omy have tempered bets that the Fed-eral Reserve might raise rates soon.

The S&P 500’s bank index is up nearly 9 percent so far in the third quarter, broadly outpacing the wider S&P’s 1.4 percent advance. The group, which still lags badly on the year with a decline of 4.6 percent, is on pace for its first quarterly outperformance in more than a year as investors took clues from an increasingly hawkish string of Fed speakers throughout August. Low interest rates are a drag on bank profits, and the prospect of even a modest increase in borrowing costs would provide some welcome relief. “Bank (loans) are increasing, and the possibility of a rate increase means they can reasonably be expect-ed to be doing more business and mak-ing more money on it,” said Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Paul Nolte, portfolio manager at Kingsview Asset Management in Chicago, said bank stocks “have been moving on Fed expectations—rallying as expectations for a rise increase and falling when those expectations become clouded.” And, as if on cue, expectations have clouded since September kicked off, with data on the job market, car sales and the services and manufacturing sectors all under-shooting forecasts. The probability of a rate hike at the Fed’s next meeting on Sept 20-21 have sunk to just 24 per-cent from around 35 percent in late

August, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool. Bank stocks have slipped 2 percent since then, and Nolte, for one, thinks they will likely stay soft in the run up to this month’s meeting and fall further afterward.

A catalyst for a rebound could come soon in October, however, as the next earnings reporting season gets under-way, said John Praveen, chief invest-ment strategist at Prudential International Investments Advisers LLC in Newark, New Jersey.

And after that, the greater possibili-ty of a hike in December will begin to come into focus, bringing with it another potential tailwind for bank shares. CME’s FedWatch shows December as a more likely bet, with the current probability around 55 per-

cent. Still, expect the next couple of weeks to be a choppy affair for the sec-tor—and the market more broadly—as rate hike expectations get whipsawed by some key data. Readings on retail sales, inflation and consumer senti-ment are all due in the week ahead, and a final rash of Fed speakers will come into focus Monday.

“It would take a big increase in retail sales, increase in inflation to get the Fed to even think twice (about September),” said Paul Christopher, head global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute in St. Louis, Missouri.

Friday offered a taste of how the run up to the meeting could play out, with the S&P falling 2.45 percent, its biggest drop since June, after Boston

Fed President Eric Rosengren said the Fed faced increasing risks if it waited too long to raise rates again. Bank stocks performed better than the over-all market, but still slid 1.2 percent.

US stocks dropped on Friday, giving the S&P 500 its worst day since June as investor nervousness increased fol-lowing a nuclear test by North Korea and Federal Reserve officials’ com-ments lifted rate hike bets. The CBOE Volatility index closed at its highest level since late June, while the S&P 500 index closed below its 50-day mov-ing average for the first time also in about two months, a sign that further weakness may be ahead.

The equity selloff also came as the US Treasury yield curve continues to steepen. Long-dated yields reached

more than two-month highs, after reports suggested Japan is consider-ing measures to cut short- to medi-um-term yields, while lifting those of long-term bonds.

Traditionally, September tends to be a month of lower returns for stocks, and traders said this year could be no exception given the abundance of uncertainties including the rate out-look and November’s US election.

“With worries about growth and what the Fed is going to do about rate hikes... It could be the start of a little bit of a pullback,” especially after recent record high combined with low volatility, said Giri Cherukuri, head trader at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois.

North Korea conducted its fifth and biggest nuclear test on Friday and said it had mastered the ability to mount a warhead on a ballistic mis-sile, drawing condemnation from the United States as well as China, Pyongyang’s main ally.

Further pressure on the US equity market came after Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren, a historical-ly dovish policymaker, said the US central bank faced increasing risks if it waited too much longer to raise interest rates. He said a gradual mone-tary policy tightening was likely appropriate, although he added the Fed was unlikely to raise rates too rapidly.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 394.46 points, or 2.13 per-cent, to 18,085.45, while the S&P 500 lost 53.49 points, or 2.45 percent, to 2,127.81. This was the S&P’s biggest one-day percentage decline since June 24, the day after Britain’s vote to leave the European Union.

Bank rally on shaky legs as traders assess rate hike oddswa l l st r e e t w e e k a h e a d

India markets bullish on value buyingIndO-ASIAn nEwS SERvIcE MUMbAi, SEP 10

Indian equity markets remained bull-ish, witnessing a good rally during the abbreviated trading week ended Friday, prompted by value buying by investors and a healthy inflow of foreign funds.

The key indices maintained their upward trajectory by rising more than half a percentage each, although some gains were capped as investors turned picky on their investments and chose to book profits on the last day of trade.

The 30-scrip sensitive index (Sensex) of the BSE, which had touched a new 17-month closing high on Thursday, ended the week’s trade with an appreci-able gain of 265.14 points or 0.93 percent at 28,797.25 points.

Similarly, the 51-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) edged up 57.05 points or 0.65 percent to close at 8,866.70 points. The Nifty had touched its new 18-month closing high last week.

“Good inflows continued to push benchmark indices to fresh 18-month peaks, with several stocks hitting new 52-week highs,” Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services, told IANS. “Reduced chances of a September US rate hike also formed a good backdrop, though the ECB (European Central Bank) decision to not extend easing measures kept glob-al vibes under check.”

The equity indices started off the trading week on a higher note, with both touching their 52-week highs in almost 18 months. Dismal US non-farm payroll data released last Friday, which reduced the potential for a September rate-hike, increased the risk-taking appetite of investors.

Besides, positive cues such as value buying at lower levels, substantial inflow of foreign funds, healthy quarter-ly results and a rise in global crude oil prices aided the equity markets in par-ing their losses.

COMPANIES AgENdAS dATE

Arun Kabeli Power Financial Highlight 2015-16, Appointment of Auditor, Acquisition

September 17

Sanima Mai Hydropower Election of BOD, 1:1 ratio right share issue, Increment of Capital

September 16

Ridi Hydropower Development Company

6% Bonus share and 0.315% cash Dividend September 16

Apex Development Bank Conversion of Shares September 13

UPcoming Agms

market watch

Vegetables Unit Price (Rs)

Fruits Unit Price (Rs)

Red Potato Kg Rs55

White Potato Kg Rs45

Onion (indian) Kg Rs45

Tomato Small Kg Rs65

Carrot Kg Rs115

Tomato big Kg Rs65

Squash Kg Rs55

Cabbage Kg Rs45

brinjal Long kg Rs45

Cow Pea Kg Rs55

daIly commodItIes

gasolIne watch

bullIon PRiCE PER TOLA

SOURCE: FENEGOSiDA

Apple Kg Rs115

Pomegranate Kg Rs225

Jackfruit 1Pc Rs33

Pineapple 1Pc Rs105

Cucumber Kg Rs65

Papaya Kg Rs83

banana Doz Rs85

Lime 100 Pcs Rs475

Pokhreli Rice Kg Rs70

Jeera Masino Rice Kg Rs70

indian basmati Rice Kg Rs100

Mansuli Rice Kg Rs55

Sona Rice Kg Rs50

beaten Rice (Taichin) Kg Rs130

beaten Rice Kg Rs60

big Mas Kg Rs260

Small Mas Kg Rs240

big Mung Kg Rs180

Musuro (No 1) Kg Rs170

Musuro (No 2) Kg Rs150

Rahar Kg Rs270

Chana (big) Kg Rs210

Chana (Small) Kg Rs180

Chilli Powder Kg Rs400

Commodities Unit Price (Rs)

Int’l market

Energy Price (US$) %Change

Agriculture Price (US$) %Change

Industrial Metals Price (US$) %Change

Copper Future (Lb) 209.2 -0.38

Precious Metals Price (US$) %Change

Gold 100 Oz Futr (T Oz) 1,337.40 -0.31Silver Future (T Oz) 19.53 -0.78

Cocoa Future (Mt) 2,801.00 -2.91Coffee ‘C’ Future (Lb) 151.95 -1.90Corn Future (bu) 335.75 -0.81Cotton No. 2 Futr (Lb) 69.03 -0.38Rough Rice (Cbot) (Cwt) 9.64 0.78Soybean Future (bu) 977 0.03Soybean Meal Futr (T) 317 -0.19Soybean Oil Futr (Lb) 33.41 0.42Sugar #11 (World) (Lb) 20.04 -0.89Wheat Future (Cbt) (bu) 401.75 -1.05

Hallmark Gold Rs58,900

Tejabi Gold Rs58,650

Silver Rs880

RETAIL PRICE

brent Crude Futr (bbl) 48.91 -2.16Gas Oil Fut (ice) (Mt) 428.5 -1.21Gasoline Rbob Fut (Gal) 138.09 -2.51Natural Gas Futr (Mmbtu) 2.83 0.93

NEPSE Index

Sept 04 Sept 05 Sept 06 Sept 07 Sept 08

1819.83

1838.91834.8

1824.831823.05

right shAres/BonUs shAresCOMPANy TyPES OF SHARES UNITS

NiC Asia bank Right 9,237,540

Namaste bittiya Sanstha bonus 62,500

iCFC Finance bonus 448,317.56

Himalayan General insurance bonus 535,000

Kalinchok Development bank bonus 60,000