Sri Lankan stx hit 8-wk high on foreign buying in Commercial Bank

Reuters: Sri Lankan shares rose for a fifth straight session on Wednesday and closed at their highest in nearly eight weeks as foreign investors bought shares in top lender Commercial Bank of Ceylon Plc.

Foreign investors bought a net 1.9 billion rupees ($12.4 million) worth of shares, mainly Commercial bank, marking the biggest single-session net foreign buying since April 19 and extending the year-to-date net foreign inflow to 19.9 billion rupees in equities.

The Colombo stock index ended 0.2 percent higher at 6,507.09, its highest close since Aug. 10.

Heavy foreign buying boosted the day’s turnover to 2.4 billion rupees, the highest since Sept. 15 and more than double this year’s daily average of 923.4 million rupees.

Commercial Bank, which surged 4 percent, accounted for about 79 percent of the day’s turnover.

“There was a significant interest in banking and finance shares as the segment is heavily undervalued,” said Dimantha Mathew, head of research at First Capital Holdings.

Shares of Lion Brewery Plc gained 3.9 percent while Lanka ORIX Leasing Company Plc ended 4.1 percent higher.

Sri Lanka’s markets will be closed on Thursday for a Buddhist holiday. 

($1 = 153.2000 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri)

India-based cancer care firm buys into Sri Lanka's Asiri Hospital

ECONOMYNEXT - Sri Lanka's Asiri Hospitals group said India-based Cancer Treatment Services Hyderabad (Private) Limited has invested 212 million rupees in a joint venture.

The Indian firm was sold a 50 percent of Asiri AOI Cancer Centre (Pvt) Ltd, Asiri Surgical Hospital Plc, said in a stock exchange filing.

The company was set up in March 2017, and Asiri Surgical Hospitals will book a 185 million rupee capital gain on the deal.

Aisiri Surgical closed at flat at 10.30 rupees on Tuesday.

Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) bars Nation Lanka Equities from trading

Due to the continuous non-compliance with the aforesaid Minimum Capital Adequacy Requirements,the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) has prohibited Nation Lanka Equities (Pvt.) Ltd. from carrying out all trading activities with effect from October 9, 2017, unless Nation Lanka Equities (Pvt.) Ltd. complies with the CSE’s Minimum Capital Adequacy Requirements rules.

Any existing clients of Nation Lanka Equities (Pvt.) Ltd. may transfer their securities portfolio/s to any other stockbroker firm or custodian bank of their choice.

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Overseas Realty to invest US$ 180 mn on largest office complex, retail mall

Overseas Realty (Ceylon) PLC will invest over US$ 180 million to build one of Sri Lanka’s largest office complexes and retail and entertainment mall areas in Havelock City premises.

The proposed office complex towering 50 floors will be similar to the World Trade Centre and would also cater to the same commercial market segment, said Pavir D. Samarasinghe, Director Group CEO, Overseas Realty (Ceylon) PLC. The mall would be adjoining the office tower and would have five floors.

In addition to this investment, Overseas Realty is also embarking on the second stage of the residential complex where two additional residential towers are being built. The two residential towers of 226 units each will also have parking slots for 520 vehicles. “We have also concentrated on the garden space and offer seven acres of landscaped gardens,” Samarasinghe added.

The first residential tower would be ready by June 2019.

He said that the demand for both mid and luxury housing would keep on increasing in Sri Lanka. “It’s not a bubble that is about to burst.”

He said that Sri Lanka’s demand for housing is increasing mainly due to people moving to the city and also because people are investing on a second home concept. “There is also a trend where people buy apartments and rent it and this trend would not decline.”

He however said that Sri Lanka’s apartment pricing is high in comparison to rents in the region. “If you take an average apartment it’s around Rs. 25 million; in India or Indonesia, the same size apartment would be Rs. 15 million.

The main reason for this is high cost of duty on construction materials and also high cost of labour.

Picture by Saliya Rupasinghe
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