Sri Lankan bourse edges up; volumes thin due to holidays

(Reuters) - Sri Lankan shares ended slightly higher on Tuesday on select buying, in stagnated market as many investors and brokers have stayed away ahead of holidays, dealers said.

The index ended 0.14 percent, or 9.74 points, firmer at 6,927.25 on Tuesday.

"Market is up on select buying, but nothing much is happening in the market even though the turnover was slightly better today but we have not seen retail activities," said Dimantha Mathew, research manager at First Capital Equities (Pvt) Ltd.

The day's turnover was 457.3 million rupees ($3.43 million), well below this year's daily average of 1.14 billion rupees.

The market will be closed on April 13 and April 14 for traditional Sinhala-Tamil new year holiday.

The main stock index had lost 6.6 percent last month, its biggest monthly drop since October 2012 as investors offloaded their holdings to settle margin trading amid concerns about political stability and a rise in interest rates.

Analysts expect trading to stay thin through mid-April ahead of the New Year holiday and amid political uncertainty.

Shares in Carson Cumberbatch Plc rose 6.67 percent, while Good Hope Plc rose 14.93 percent. 

($1 = 132.9000 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Anand Basu)

Proposal to raise T-bill threshold in Parliament today

By Yohan Perera The proposal to increase the Treasury bill (T-bill) threshold is to be presented to Parliament today, Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said yesterday. 

 He said the resolution under the Local Treasury Bills Ordinance, which will be presented to the house, will seek to increase the T-bill threshold to Rs.2250 million from the current level of Rs.800 million. 

 Responding to a question raised by the journalists as to whether the reason to increase the threshold is lack of funds in the government, the minister said there was no such thing. 

 “We are getting funds from all over the world as we are trying to convert them into low-cost borrowings,” he said. He also said the government had successfully completed an overseas road show to raise US $ 1.5 billion through a sovereign bond issue. 

 This, the minister assured would be raised at an affordable interest rate. The minister therefore dismissed the claim made by opposition leader Nimal Siripala De Silva that the government is short of funds. 

Further, the minister said the present regime is compelled to raise Rs.422 billion to meet the total carry forward payments, which the government will have to make this year. 

Proposal to raise “We have inherited the sins of the previous regime and will have to pay for those,” he added. 

 Responding to a question raised by the media on the latest development with regard to the investigation on the controversial bond issue, Karunanayake said despite some media reports saying the investigation report would be ready by April 10, he was not aware of such a thing.

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