Sri Lanka’s RIL Property IPO draws Rs1.26bn worth applications

ECONOMYNEXT – A share issue by RIL Property Limited (RIL), the owner and operator of commercial office space in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, had drawn applications worth 1.26 billion Rupees, a stock exchange filing said.

RIL Property offered 120 million ordinary voting shares in the Initial Public Offering to raise 960 million Rupees, with the issue being oversubscribed on opening day itself.

The statement said the share issue drew 820 applications with payments by bank drafts and cheques for 89 million shares from retail investors worth 713 million Rupees.

It also got three applications with bank guarantees for 58.7 million shares worth 470 million Rupees, and one application with payment by real-time gross settlement, used for high-value transactions with immediate clearing for 10 million shares worth 80 million Rupees.

Sri Lanka stock exchange invites tips on market manipulation

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s stock exchange has set up a page on its website inviting tips and information on market manipulation and other violations.

According to the ‘Submit a Tip’ page of the Colombo Stock Exchange, it will treat all tips and information received as confidential.

The CSE said it will “not disclose such information to any third-party unless required by any applicable statute, regulation or by the order of a court of law.”

The page (http://www.cse.lk/home/tip-off) provides space for documents to be uploaded and details for those who want to identify themselves.

Sri Lanka 03-month Treasuries yield hits 9.72-pct

ECONOMYNEXT – The yield on 03-month Sri Lankan Treasury Bills rose 05 basis points to hit 9.72% at an auction Friday where yields rose across the board, the public debt department of the central bank said.

The yield on the 06-month bill rose 08 basis points to 10.77% and the one-year bill yield rose 07 basis points to 11.09%, a statement said.

The public debt department got Rs55 billion worth of bids and accepted bids of Rs23 billion. 

Sri Lankan shares up for ninth straight session on foreign buying

Reuters: Sri Lankan shares rose for a ninth straight session on Friday to close at their highest in nearly four months helped by positive sentiment over continued foreign buying in blue chip stocks.

The Colombo stock index ended 0.69 percent firmer at 6,292.94, its highest close since Dec. 14. The index rose 3.8 percent during the week, posting its second weekly gain in seven.

The index has climbed 5.32 percent in the last nine sessions through Friday.

"Foreign, institutional, and high-net worth investors are buying shares. That helped to move the market. Retailers are still on the sideline," said Yohan Samarakkody, head of research, SC Securities.

"The underline fundamentals have not changed as yet. The economic outlook is gloomy with high interest rates. But all that negativity have factored in. With the market reaching an oversold level, it became attractive to investors who have the holding capacity and they are capitalising that situation."

Foreign investors net bought shares worth 1.01 billion rupees ($6.66 million) on Friday, raising the year-to-date net foreign inflow to 7.34 billion rupees in equities. They have net bought 4.85 billion worth equities in the past 14 sessions.

Turnover stood at 2.04 billion rupees, its highest since March 28 and well above this year's daily average of 764.4 million rupees.

Shares of Ceylon Cold Stores Plc surged 5.85 percent, Ceylon Tobacco Company Plc gained 0.89 percent, while conglomerate John Keells Holdings Plc climbed 0.68 percent.

($1 = 151.7000 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)