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The price of gold has reached an all-time high of Rs 217, 100 per tola in the domestic market on Tuesday.

According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the price of precious yellow metal has increased by Rs 1, 900 per tola today. It was traded at Rs 215, 200 per tola on Monday.

Similarly, the price of silver has increased by Rs 20 and is being traded at Rs 2, 575 per tola today.

Even as daily life gradually returns to normalcy after last week’s unprecedented violence and arson triggered by the Gen Z protests, the country’s stock market will remain closed for another week.  The Nepal Stock Exchange (Nepse) has announced that secondary market trading will not resume until Sept 21, citing ongoing instability and investor concerns.

Trading had already been suspended since Sept 9 after police crackdowns on protesters a day earlier left nearly 20 people dead. The protest and the resulting wave of destruction led Nepse to extend the trading halt, in line with the Securities Act, and with the approval of the Securities Board of Nepal (Sebon), said an official from the stock exchange.

Although the initial suspension was only until Sept 17, trading will reopen on Sunday only as the trading floors of Nepse open for trading from Sunday to Thursday only.

Earlier, different associations of stock market investors had urged the regulator to keep the market shut, warning that reopening during a fragile period would lead to irrational decisions and heightened volatility. In a joint statement, Share Investors Association Nepal, Nepal Capital Market Investors Association, and Independent Investors Association said the prevailing climate had seriously affected investor confidence and that halting trading was the prudent safeguard at the moment.

Market analysts have also said that since capital markets are highly sensitive to external shocks, even minor developments can trigger sharp swings. They cautioned against reopening amid ongoing protests.

Before the suspension, the Nepse index had fallen for five consecutive days, closing at 2,672.25 points on Sept 8. Nepse has mostly traded in negative territory since hitting a four-year high of 3,002.07 points on July 29. Since then, the benchmark index has already fallen by 329.82 points. Over Rs 530bn in market value has been wiped out since the last week of July when the bourse’s capitalization touched an all-time high of Rs 5,000bn.

The Rasuwagadhi border crossing is being hurriedly rebuilt after the devastating floods that swept through China’s Lende Khola caused extensive damage. The Chinese side has temporarily reopened the crossing by installing makeshift structures at Lende Khola in Rasuwagadhi.

Reconstruction is underway with work progressing through the temporary structures built for bridge construction. Eyewitnesses report that China has deployed around 100 technicians along with heavy equipment to carry out daily repairs at the Rasuwagadhi crossing, located 15.5 kilometers from Syafrubensi. On the Nepali side, the District Administration Office, Rasuwa, has mobilized a small team of workers with two heavy machines to support and facilitate the work.

When the checkpoint was fully operational, it generated about Rs 30m in daily revenue. The Chinese side has now taken steps to reconstruct the crossing after the floods washed away the motorable bridge it built 12 years ago.

Rasuwa Chief District Officer Rajesh Panthi said China has also begun constructing a Bailey bridge on the Nepal side of the border. He added that traffic flow is expected to improve once the temporary bridge becomes operational.

Following the collapse of the concrete bridge connecting Nepal and China, Chinese engineers are preparing structures for a Bailey bridge as an alternative. The district administration has been closely monitoring progress on both sides.

According to the District Administration Office, China will formally begin constructing the Bailey bridge at Rasuwagadhi on Saturday. Workers are building diversion routes on the Chinese side by placing hump pipes in Lende Khola, while complementary work is expected to accelerate on the Nepal side. Panthi said the Bailey bridge could be operational by Bada Dashain or Tihar. The construction of temporary diversion structures has also enabled many Nepali workers based in Kerung, China, to return home.

Meanwhile, the Syafrubensi-Rasuwagadhi road section, part of the tri-nation trade route, has reopened to one-way traffic after flood damage. Authorities have urged travelers to exercise caution while using the road.

The current account remained at a surplus of Rs 78.14 billion in the first month of the current fiscal year against the surplus of Rs 33.08 billion in the same period of the previous year, according to the Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB). 

"In the US Dollar terms, the current account registered a surplus of Rs 561 million in the review period against a surplus of Rs 246.8 million in the same period of the previous year," the NRB shared on Monday releasing the Current Macroeconomic and Financial Situation of Nepal based on one month data ending mid-August. 

In the first month of the current fiscal year, Rs 691.5 million foreign direct investment (equity only) was received, while the amount was nearly Rs 800 million in the same period of the previous year.

In the review period, net capital transfer amounted to Rs 1.04 billion. In the same period of the previous year, such transfers amounted to Rs 223.2 million. 

Likewise, the Balance of Payments (BOP) remained at a surplus of Rs 89.30 billion in the review period. Such a surplus was Rs 40.90 billion in the previous year, the NRB stated.

The gross foreign exchange reserves increased 4.8 percent to Rs 2806.04 billion in mid-August 2025 from Rs 2677.68 billion in mid-July 2025. Of the total foreign exchange reserves, the reserves held by the NRB increased 4.0 percent to Rs 2511.45 billion in mid-August from Rs 2414.64 billion in mid-July. Reserves held by banks and financial institutions increased 12 percent to Rs 294.58 billion in mid-August from Rs 263 billion in mid-July. 

The NRB shared that the foreign exchange reserves of the banking sector is sufficient to cover the prospective merchandise imports of 20.4 months, and merchandise and services imports of 16.6 months based on the imports of the first month of 2025/26.