Sri Lanka tourist arrivals fall 2.3-pct in September

ECONOMYNEXT – Tourist arrivals into Sri Lanka fell in September 2017 from a year ago mainly because of lower arrivals from big markets like China and Germany although the number of visitors from India, the biggest market, grew strongly.

Total arrivals fell 2.3% to 145,077 in September 2017 from the year before, data from the tourism office showed.

The biggest fall was in Germany, the second biggest European market, from where arrivals fell 15.1% to 8,574 while arrivals from China fell 14.3% to 18,939.

Arrivals from China in the nine months to September are lower this year while those from Germany are stagnant.

The number of visitors from India, grew 26.6% in September 2017 to 34,481 from a year ago and are up 6.1% to 267,601 so far this year.

Sri Lankan shares end lower on profit-taking; investors pick diversified stocks

Reuters: Sri Lankan shares ended lower on Monday, slipping from a nine-week closing high hit in the previous session, as investors booked profits in banking and diversified stocks, but continued foreign buying helped boost sentiment, brokers said.

The Colombo stock index ended 0.2 percent weaker at 6,515.84, edging down from its highest close since Aug. 4 hit on Friday. The bourse rose 1.4 percent last week, recording its fourth straight weekly gain.

Foreign investors bought a net 225.2 million rupees ($1.47 million) worth of equities on Monday extending the year-to-date net foreign inflow to 20.1 billion rupees worth of shares.

Turnover stood at 1 billion rupees ($6.53 million), more than this year’s daily average of 923.9 million rupees.

“Market is very positive with continued foreign buying, though the index ended negative,” said Dimantha Mathew, head of research, First Capital Holdings.

“The index came down mainly because of the profit-taking in Commercial Bank shares,” he added.

Shares of biggest listed lender Commercial Bank of Ceylon Plc ended 1.2 percent down, while conglomerate John Keells Holdings Plc closed 0.3 percent lower and Commercial Leasing and Finance Plc finished 3.3 percent down.

($1 = 153.3000 Sri Lankan rupees)

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