According to Bloomberg, which cited a statement from the exchange, 149 members of Shanghai International Energy Exchange traded 647,930 lots in the rehearsal with a total value of 268.2 billion yuan. The system met the listing requirements of crude futures after the exercise, it added.

“This contract has the potential to greatly help China’s push for yuan internationalization,” said Yao Wei, chief China economist at Societe Generale in Paris.

She added, however, “its success will hinge critically on the degree of freedom allowed for the capital flows related to the contract.”

A former China division chief at the International Monetary Fund, Eswar Prasad said: “It is not unreasonable to envision a world in which the overwhelming share of commodity contracts, especially for oil, are no longer denominated just in dollars.”

But “the yuan’s role in global finance will ultimately be determined by the degree of commitment of Xi Jinping’s government to economic and financial market reforms.”

Since the 1970s, the global oil trade has almost entirely been conducted in US dollars. The largest energy consumer, China, is interested in having oil contracts in yuan. Beijing plans to introduce its own oil benchmark which will rival Brent or West Texas Intermediate. Analysts say Chinese authorities will need to first convince large oil producers and consumers to use the yuan and invest in the Shanghai benchmark.

The Chinese government announced plans to start a crude oil futures contract priced in yuan and convertible into gold earlier this year. The contract will enable the country's trading partners to pay with gold or to convert yuan into gold without the necessity to keep money in Chinese assets or turn it into US dollars.

The new benchmark will reportedly allow exporters, such as Russia, Iran or Venezuela to avoid US sanctions by trading oil in yuan.

In September, Venezuela ditched the greenback for oil payments. Caracas has ordered oil traders to convert crude oil contracts into euro and not to pay or be paid in US dollars anymore. The measure followed the rolling out of sanctions by the United States against the country.

The scarcity of the mineral is due to the government’s decision to divert most of the country’s output to electricity generators in order to prevent outages. Coal India’s shipments to power plants rose 9.2 per cent to 290.6 million tonnes in the eight months ended November 30, 2017. This accounted for 79 per cent of the overall supplies of 368 million tonnes during the period. Local reports state that India’s thermal power capacity of 137 GW requires about 1.43 million tonnes of coal daily and, despite the increased supply, power plants currently have enough stock for eight days, when they are required to pile up 21 days worth of coal.

Given this situation, the public company is trying to engage states and the Central Electricity Authority in an assessment process that would provide a clearer picture of each region’s revised power demand for the next three years. Coal India’s goal is to use this information to do a more efficient job dealing with increasing demand.

But power plants that distribute electricity to the population are not Coal India’s only clients. The firm, which generates more than 80% of the country’s coal, is also in charge of supplying the mineral to ICPPA member-companies who generally produce electricity for their own use.

Chemical factories and aluminum smelters are among the latter and, according to the aforementioned Rahul Sharma, the local shortage is pushing them to make costlier overseas purchases, which has increased their power costs by 50 per cent.

Thermal coal at the Australian port of Newcastle, which is an Asia-Pacific benchmark, is trading near $100 a tonne after gaining about 17% in the financial year that started in April, Bloomberg reports.

High costs combined with reduced power generation is rendering operations economically unviable with huge risk of plant closure, Sharma and his team said at today’s event. The ICPPA requested urgent government intervention in this matter.

The research shows that the general index of housing price was 1.01 in November 2017. It shows a growth by 1.1 percent in January 2013. The index increased by 0.16 percent compared to the previous month. The general index increased by 0.24% compared to the same month in previous year. Below are the Price index indicators classified by new and old houses.

The new house price index was at 1.16. This shows a growth by 0.20 percent compared to the previous month. The index increased by 1,26% compared to the same month in previous year.

The old house price index was at 0.92. This shows a decline by 8.55 percent in January 2013. The index increased by 0.47 percent compared to the previous month, and dropped by 0.50% compared to the same month in previous year.

HPI was calculated by applying Hedonic regression methods and the calculation was based on the information available for 4881 old and new houses supplied for sale at the real estate market of Ulaanbaatar for the particular month.

Mongolia will export 200 tons of goat meat to Vietnam between 2017 and 2018. The two governments believe that the signing of export agreements on livestock products will be a great boost to the goal of achieving bilateral trade of USD 70 million by 2020.

Also in August, when a Saudi Arabian government delegation visited Mongolia, both parties conducted extensive discussions on the establishment of a joint-venture meat processing plant and a relevant working team.

In November, during a political consultation meeting between Mongolia and Paraguay, Mongolia showed great interest in Paraguay's experience in beef exports and expressed a desire to strengthen bilateral exchanges and cooperation in relevant fields.

The Chinese government has expressed its willingness to give positive consideration to Mongolia's desire to expand its exports of mineral and energy products as well as increasing its beef and mutton exports. The two countries can expand their trade in meat products by establishing joint-venture meat processing plants or increasing or expanding cold-chain logistics zones for meat trading and processing in their border zones. Also, both countries can strengthen cooperation on the prevention and control of livestock diseases and the development of relevant vaccines.

Beginning from 2000, projects, supported by WHO, and the Governments of Luxembourg and China, are being implemented to digitalize health services with a purpose to provide quality and accessible health services by using advanced ICT technologies.

The Government of Mongolia and World Bank’s International Development Association signed a credit agreement on implementing ‘E-Health Project’ in June, 2015 and the agreement was ratified by the Mongolia’s Parliament in July, 2015.

The objective of the project is to improve integration and utilization of health information and e-health solutions for better health service delivery. It will design an e-health system to provide faster access to more integrated health information systems. It will speed the processing of referrals, avoid duplication of tests and procedures, and facilitate follow-up care. The project will pilot new e-health system in two aimags and one district of Ulaanbaatar city so that information to be shared among hospitals and healthcare providers, even in remote areas. 

Health Minister D. Sarangerel said, “Although there are some ongoing projects on building capacity of infectious and non-infectious disease information system and developing e-health system, it needs to satisfy their integration and unity, coordinate technical and financial supports of international donor organizations and increase involvement of the Government.”

The national consultative meeting brought together over 100 participants from the Ministry of Health, other ministries, agencies, international donor organizations, health centers of aimags, capital city and districts and other organizations.

Signing the agreement on behalf of the Government of Mongolia was Minister of Finance Ch. Khurelbaatar, while Country Director Yolanda Fernandez Lommen signed on behalf of ADB. First Secretary Hiroshi Fukasawa from the Embassy of Japan in Mongolia witnessed the event. Representative from the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Light Industry also participated.

'The project supports the Mongolian government's efforts to improve agricultural productivity through inclusive value chains, climate change adaptation, and capacity building for farmers,' said Ms. Fernandez Lommen. 'The broad scope of this project reflects the work of the government and ADB to target key regions, sectors, and beneficiaries for poverty alleviation, livelihoods, and the environment. The goal is that these pilot projects are sustainable and can be replicated and scaled up elsewhere in the country.'

The grant is funded by the Japanese government-financed Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR), which over the past 18 years has supported projects in Mongolia focusing on poverty alleviation, community development, improving livelihoods, and safeguarding the environment.

Unlike livestock, vegetable farming remains an underdeveloped sector in Mongolia despite good potential for cropping. The project will introduce a community-farming model, applying improved climate-resilient farming practices and high-level greenhouse technology. It will strengthen farm-to-market linkages and integrate farming groups into inclusive agriculture value chains.

Vegetable farmers generally earn low incomes and the country is heavily reliant on imported products. The demand for good quality, locally-grown fresh produce is on the rise as people relocate to cities and citizens become more aware of the need to extend their diets beyond traditional meat staples.

The project is expected to directly benefit at least 180 farming households, many of them headed by women, representing about 500 farmers and seed producers. Indirect benefits will accrue to at least 45,000 people in target districts, or soums.

ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, ADB is celebrating 50 years of development partnership in the region. It is owned by 67 members-48 from the region. In 2016, ADB assistance totaled $31.7 billion, including $14 billion in cofinancing.

On the secondary market for government bonds, 12 bonds with a value of MNT0.8 million were traded.

The MSE ALL Index decreased by 2.04 percent to stand at 1,177.31 points. The MSE market cap stands at MNT2,489,471,669,340

With the cryptocurrency’s booming price, the fortune of Nakamoto who is reportedly sitting on $17 billion could turn him into the world's first trillionaire.

The price of the world’s most valuable digital currency bitcoin is up 1,800 percent this year. Last week, it rocketed above $19,000 for the first time. With a market value of more than $288 billion, the cryptocurrency was trading at $17,254 on Wednesday.

Nakamoto is believed to hold nearly one million bitcoins, and he's never spent a single coin, according to media reports.

The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto, a pseudonym for the author of the research paper that conceived bitcoin about nine years ago, remains a mystery. To date, nobody knows who Nakamoto is. The name appears on the original document which proposed a peer-to-peer electronic cash system.

There have been at least four people that have been named or have named themselves as Satoshi Nakamoto. Three years ago, Newsweek said a 64-year-old Japanese-American living in California named Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto could be behind bitcoin. He had denied the report.

In 2016, an Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright claimed he was the founder, but that was also called into doubt.

Last month, billionaire Elon Musk denied rumors he was the mysterious inventor of bitcoin. A former intern at Musk’s space company SpaceX has suggested that “Satoshi is probably Elon” because of his deep understanding of economics and cryptography, grip on advanced coding languages, and the fact he is a “polymath.”