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The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 41. 04 points to close at 2,149. 39 points on Thursday. Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 7. 89 points to close at 411. 25 points. A total of 14,482,959 unit shares of 252 companies were traded for Rs 5. 47 billion. Meanwhile, Kumari Dhanabriddhi Yojana was the top gainer today with its price surging by 10. 02 percent. Likewise, Gurans Laghubitta Bittiya Sanstha Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 9. 18 percent. At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 10 trillion.

The logistics services provider Upaya has announced an investment closure of Rs 60 million from Nepal Infrastructures Investment Fund Limited (NIIF). Managed by Global Equity Fund (GEF), the NIFF is a capital venture jointly promoted by Global Equity Fund (GEF), Prime Life Insurance and Himalayan Everest Insurance. According to Upaya Managing Director Suman Rayamajhi, the funding from NIIF will be utilized for the business expansion and growth of Upaya 2.0. "Upaya is committed to making investments in two key areas of infrastructure and technology to uplift and collaborate the entire logistics sector of Nepal involving driver/rider partners, franchise partners, business partners, and alliance partners," he said.Dr. Manish Thapa, Managing Director of GEF said that with new investment, NIIF is confident that Upaya will continue to revolutionize the logistics industry and drive growth in the coming years through its use of advanced technology and innovative approaches to solving common challenges. In 2021, Upaya successfully closed funding worth Rs 180 million from Dolma Impact which was used for the expansion of the company along with the introduction of various logistics solutions across the country. Issuing a press statement Upaya said that the company has been successful in integrating all aspects of logistics involving market aggregation operations and end-to-end delivery operations. Currently, Upaya has a network of five branches, 10 regional hubs, and 100 plus last-mile delivery locations across the country. Established in 2018, Upaya has been providing technology-enabled logistics services to its clients. The company says it has been providing logistics services across four verticals targeted toward the needs of different types of businesses and individuals in Nepal. "The Series B closing target of Upaya is Rs 400 million for the successful completion of Upaya 2.0 and the company expects to close its funding target by end of 2023," reads the statement. According to the statement, the major areas of focus of Upaya 2.0 are building automated warehouses for the 3PL base of operation, Upaya Station - truckers resting hub across the country, Upaya-Nagar - transporters hub along with a multi-transport system in east, central and west Nepal for inter-city synchronization under Upaya Alliance. "Along with this, Upaya 2.0 targets to have 300 plus pin codes delivery points for catering to customer’s easy delivery across Nepal," says the company.

Commercial banks are reducing the interest rate for the month of Magh (from January 15- February 12). A meeting of the Nepal Bankers' Association, an umbrella organization of commercial banks, held on Wednesday decided to reduce the interest rate by 1.13 per cent for the month of Magh. Presently the interest rate for personal fixed deposit is 12.13 per cent and 9.13 per cent towards institutional fixed deposit. Similarly, 15.33 percent interest has been fixed towards remittance fixed deposit accounts. However, the commercial banks have determined 11 percent interest towards personal fixed deposit, nine percent interest towards institutional fixed deposit and 12 per cent towards remittance fixed deposit account for the month of Magh. Meanwhile, Sunil KC has been elected President of Bankers' Association. Chief Executive Officer of NMB Bank, KC, was elected to the post unopposed. A special general assembly held on Wednesday elected KC as the new Chairperson.  CEO of Machhapuchchhre Bank, Santosh Koirala, was elected Vice-President of Association unopposed. Likewise, Ajay Bikram Shah of Laxmi Bank, Deepak Kumar De of Nepal SBI Bank, Krishna Bahadur Adhikari of Nepal Bank, Roshan Kumar Neupane of NIC Asia, Sudesh Khaling of Everest Bank and Suman Sharma of Sunrise Bank are executive members of the Association.

The price of gold has increased by Rs 200 per tola in the domestic market on Thursday. According to the Federation of Nepal Gold and Silver Dealers’ Association, the precious yellow metal is being traded at Rs 103, 400 per tola today. The gold was traded at Rs 103, 200 per tola on Wednesday. Meanwhile, tejabi gold is being traded at Rs 102, 900 per tola. Similarly, the price of silver has dropped by Rs 5 and is being traded at Rs 1,360 per tola today.