Sri Lanka shares at 1-wk closing high; foreign buying in Keells boosts turnover

(Reuters) - Sri Lankan shares rose on Monday to their highest close in one week, helped by blue chips, while foreign inflows hit a more than three-week high as offshore investors mainly bought shares of conglomerate John Keells Holdings Plc.

Analysts said continued foreign buying and expectations of interest rates coming further down boosted sentiment.

The main stock index ended 0.13 percent, or 7.89 points, firmer at 6,287.03, its highest close since June 2.

The bourse saw net foreign inflow for an eighth straight session. Foreign investors bought 924.1 million rupees ($7.09 million) worth of shares on Monday, extending the year-to-date net foreign inflows to 5.11 billion rupees.

Turnover was 1.39 billion rupees, the highest since May 16 and more than this year's daily average of 1 billion rupees.

Analysts said the market expects a further fall in interest rates after central bank governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal told Reuters on May 30 that the central bank was creating room to cut interest rates further.

Stockbrokers expect the market to gain in the near future due to lower interest rates. The central bank will announce its June monetary policy rates on June 18.

Shares in leading fixed line telephone operator Sri Lanka Telecom Plc, which boosted the overall index, rose 1.71 percent to 47.50 rupees a share, while John Keells Holdings Plc which accounted for 54.3 percent of the day's turnover, edged down 0.04 percent to 234.80 rupees a share. 

($1 = 130.2500 Sri Lankan Rupees) 

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Anupama Dwivedi)

Sri Lanka stocks close up 0.1-pct

June 09, 2014 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's stocks closed higher with telco and oil palm stocks gaining amid strong foreign buying mostly into conglomerate John Keells Holdings, brokers said.

The Colombo benchmark All Share Price Index closed 7.89 points higher at 6,287.03, up 0.13 percent. The S&P SL20 closed 0.52 points higher at 3,479.69, up 0.01 percent.

Turnover was 1.40 billion rupees, up from 835.02 million rupees last Friday with 120 stocks closed positive against 72 negative.

John Keells Holdings closed 10 cents lower at 234.80 rupees with seven off-market transactions of 708.09 million rupees changing hands at 235.00 rupees per share contributing 51 percent of the turnover.

JKH’s W0022 warrants closed 30 cents lower at 63.90 rupees and its W0023 warrants closed 1.50 rupees lower at 73.00 rupees.

Hayleys Mgt Knitting Mills closed 1.60 rupees higher at 12.70 rupees and The Finance Company non-voting closed 20 cents higher at 8.40 rupees, attracting most number of trades during the day.

Foreign investors bought 1.02 billion rupees worth shares while selling 98.49 million rupees worth shares.

Sri Lanka Telecom closed 80 cents higher at 47.50 rupees and oil palm firm Selinsing closed 199.00 rupees higher at 1,800.00 rupees, contributing most to the index gain.

Carson Cumberbatch group’s oil palm firms Good Hope closed 100.00 rupees higher at 1,800.00 rupees and Shalimar (Malay) closed 50.00 rupees higher at 1,800.00 rupees.

Lanka Orix Finance closed 20 cents higher at 3.80 rupees and Lanka Orix Leasing closed 50 cents higher at 80.50 rupees.

Cargills Ceylon closed 3.50 rupees higher at 146.00 rupees and Ceylon Tobacco Company closed 12.50 rupees lower at 1,017.00 rupees.

Nestle Lanka closed 37.70 rupees lower at 1,910.60 rupees and Ceylon Cold Stores closed 1.90 rupees lower at 155.00 rupees.

Top firms among list of Sri Lanka’s ‘15 Best Companies To Work For’

After a comprehensive study the Great Place to Work Institute – Sri Lanka on Friday felicitated the ‘Top 15 Best Companies to Work For’ based on employee experience benchmarked with global practices.

With the participation of over 50 companies representing 13 industries, and over 30,000 employees, this study identified a number of key practices unique to the companies identified as ‘Best workplaces’.  The study concluded overall that with the right attitude and practices, ‘any organisation from any industry can be a great place to work’.

“Organisations need to provide as much priority employees as they do to investors and customers, simply because it matters, as studies show that Great Places to Work achieve three times higher returns than the norm,” Project Manager for the Study of Best Companies to Work For in Sri Lanka – 2014 Sanjaya Gunaratne said.









He also said a great place to work is one where employees trust the management, have pride in what they do and enjoy the people they work with.

Firms are measured by the quality of employee experience by an international Trust Index and Culture Audit. The Trust Index measures and benchmarks employee experience of credibility, respect, fairness, pride and camaraderie, whilst the Culture Audit assess and benchmarks people practices such as hiring, inspiring, speaking, listening, thanking, developing, caring, celebrating and sharing.

As per the study Sri Lankan companies show a trend of hiring and increasing the size of their workforce. For example, the Top 15 hired more people as opposed to the rest, reflecting more optimism about business growth. Best firms also have profit sharing schemes for their employees and less employee turnover.

The top 15 Best Companies to Work For, for the year 2014 are 99X Technology,  AIA Insurance Lanka, Akzo Nobel Paints Lanka, Ceylon Tobacco Company, Classic Travel, Diesel & Motor Engineering, GlaxoSmithKline, IFS R&D International,  John Keells Holdings, Mercantile Investments and Finance, Oxford College of Business,  Printcare, Singer (Sri Lanka),  Taj Samudra and Union Assurance.

In addition, identifying best case practices in special categories, John Keells Holdings was awarded for Best Practice in Hiring, 99X Technology for Best Practice in Talent Development, Classic Travel for Best Practice in Work life balance, Diesel & Motor Engineering for Best Practice in Grievance Redressal and Workplace Fairness and AIA Insurance Lanka for being the Best in involving employees in Corporate Social Responsibility.

The top 15 Best Companies to Work For, for 2014 (in alphabetical order):
1 .99X Technology
2 .AIA Insurance Lanka
3 .Akzo Nobel Paints Lanka
4 .Ceylon Tobacco Company
5 .Classic Travel
6 .Diesel & Motor Engineering
7 .GlaxoSmithKline, 
8 .IFS R&D International
9 .John Keells Holdings
10.Mercantile Investments and Finance
11.Oxford College of Business
12.Printcare
13.Singer (Sri Lanka)
14.Taj Samudra 
15.Union Assurance  

Category awards were also presented for Best in Small Enterprise category (50-200 employees) – 99X Technology, Best in Medium Enterprise category (201-1,000 employees) – AIA Insurance Lanka, Best in Large Enterprise category (1,001<) – Singer (Sri Lanka) and Best amongst Multinational Corporations in Sri Lanka – AIA Insurance Lanka.

With insightful comments from Great Place to Work India CEO Prasenjit Bhattacharya and Great Place to Work Sri Lanka CEO Kshanika Ratnayaka, the award ceremony brought together the giants in managing excellent work place cultures, creating a platform to commend their dedication towards building great workplaces.

The study was in partnership with the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce and LMD. The inaugural award ceremony saw support from the Daily FT, People’s Bank, Dialog Axiata Plc and ART TV.

A common sentiment from the awardees was that ‘this would not have been possible without my team’. The sharing of their own unique approaches towards building great workplaces made the award ceremony quite an educational and entertaining experience for everyone present.

The Great Place to Work Institute – Sri Lanka is now accepting applications for the 2015 study of Best Companies to Work For in Sri Lanka. The study aims to help employees and employers both by assisting companies to understand what it takes to make a great workplace.

www.ft.lk