HD shares receive cold response

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KATHMANDU, Sept 17 – Shares of Himalayan Distillery (HD) that opened for public subscription on September 13 has received a cold response from the public.

According to a top-level officer engaged in the issue procedure, the initial response from the public is very nominal and the collection so far is far less than expected. "Though the initial response is below the expectation, the soaring inquiries from the investors has created the hope that it might receive average response in days to come."

He said that the proposed mass meeting of the underground Maoist in the capital, which had created a widespread fear of bloody violence, is the main cause for such cold response.

In addition, the anti-liquor campaign launched by the Maoist-affiliated Women organization some weeks ago has also eroded investors’ confidence in subscribing shares of a liquor company.

"However, since the mass meeting has been rolled back, we have started receiving more and more inquiries and the subscription rate has also increased and we expect to receive average response by the closing of the subscription that is scheduled for October 12," the officer said who preferred to be unnamed.

In the mean time, a case filed in the Supreme Court against the issue manager has further dampened the lukewarm response from the general public in subscribing the shares of the distillery.

Advocate Nitya Narayan Prajapati has filed a case charging the issue manager that it has only called for subscription without publicizing prospectus of the company. And the court has issued show cause order ordering the concerned party to furnish necessary reply within September 18.

Referring to the filed case, the officer admitted that the prospectus was not published in the daily paper. "Since rule of the Security Board and the general practice is that only subscription call is published in the paper and the prospectus is made available easily on request from any share collection center," he said.

Stock market recovers

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KATHMANDU, Sept 17 – In a strong sign of improving investors’ confidence mainly due to the cancellation of the Maoist mass rally scheduled for the September 21, the Nepse index, which is the most quick and reliable barometer to measure investment confidence, has recorded a surge of 7.79 points in today’s transaction.

The Nepse index, which was closed on 262.22 points on Friday soared to 273.01 points today gained market capitalization worth over Rs 1.08 billion and touched Rs 38.14 billion from Rs 37.05 billion recorded on last Friday.

Concerned experts say that the improved investment confidence due to the cancellation of the Maoist mass meeting played the crucial role to mark up the index. "Investors have started responding to the slightly improved environment," says Jagadish Agrawal, a leading broker of the Nepse market.

In today’s transaction, the increase in the share prices of commercial bank group largely helped to jump the index and the group emerged as the largest gainer in terms of price of per unit share. Since the commercial bank commands a lion’s share in the Nepalese stock market, any fall or rise of the index of the group is directly reflected in the overall index. Nepal Bangladesh Bank gained Rs 100 in its unit share price while the share prices of Himalayan Bank Limited and Nepal Indosuez Bank increased by Rs 70 and Rs 50 respectively.

Rupee again depreciates

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KATHMANDU, Sept 17 – In the third time within last ten days, the Nepalese rupees today depreciated by 30 paisa against the dollar and the official exchange rate of domestic currency vis-a-vis US dollar slipped to Rs 76.40 – the lowest ever recorded.

The official exchange rate of the Nepalese currency on last Friday had skidded by 50 paisa and had touched Rs 76.10 while in the similar depreciation, the rupees had tumbled down by 20 paisa on last Monday.

The continuously weakening Indian currency against American dollar is the main cause of the sliding domestic currency. Since the Nepalese currency maintains a fixed exchange rate with Indian currency, any appreciation or depreciation in the Indian currency is directly reflected in the Nepalese currency.

As in the past, soaring dollar demand in the Indian market propelled by the increasing imports of India has been the main cause of surging dollar demand. In addition, the possible US attacks on Afghanistan in retaliation of the horrible terrorist attacks in the key American installations has also played key role to increase the demand of dollar.