Sri Lankan shares hit near 3-month closing high; banks lead

Reuters: Sri Lankan shares touched a near three-month closing high on Thursday as investors picked up bank and diversified shares, brokers said.

The Colombo stock index finished 0.28 percent firmer at 6,633.20, its highest close since July 31.

Shares of the biggest listed lender, Commercial Bank of Ceylon Plc, rose 1.8 percent while Hemas Holdings Plc ended 2.4 percent higher. Sampath Bank Plc climbed 2.3 percent while conglomerate John Keells Holdings Plc gained 0.7 percent.

“Market is up on foreign blue chip buying. Foreigners are active again and block deals pushed the turnover levels,” said Atchuthan Srirangan, senior research analyst, First Capital Holdings PLC.

“Retail investors are still awaiting corporate results and budget, but foreign investors are active.”

Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera will present the 2018 budget on Nov. 9.

Turnover stood at 1.2 billion rupees ($7.8 million), more than this year’s daily average of 938.3 million rupees.

Foreign investors net bought shares worth 36.1 million rupees on Thursday, extending the year-to-date net foreign inflow to 19.7 billion rupees worth equities. 

($1 = 153.4500 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Vyas Mohan)

Sri Lanka 01-year Treasury Bill yield rises to 9.51-pct

ECONOMYNEXT – The yields on 01-year Sri Lankan Treasury Bills rose 05 basis points to 9.51% at an auction Wednesday from the week before, the public debt department of the Central Bank said.

The 03-month bill yield fell 03 basis points to 8.76% while the yield on the 06-month bill was steady at 9.12%.

The central bank got Rs62 billion worth of bids and accepted bids worth Rs19.5 billion of which Rs5 billion were for 01-year bills and Rs7.8 billion for 03-month bills.

Sri Lanka' Ceylon Cold Stores net down 28-pct

ECONOMYNEXT - Profits at Sri Lanka's Ceylon Cold Stores Plc, a consumer goods manufacturer and retailer fell 28 percent from a year earlier to 751 million in the September 2017 quarter, interim accounts showed.

The group reported earnings of 7.90 rupees per share for the quarter. In the six months to September CCS reported earnings of 15.01 rupees per share, on total profits of 1.43 billion rupees, down from 1.9 billion rupees.

Group revenues were up 15 percent to 12.48 billion rupees, but cost of sales rose at a faster 22 percent to 10.7 billion rupees, narrowing gross profits 15 percent to 1.71 billion rupees.

At the core company level, revenues were down 6 percent to 3.5 billion rupees and gross profits were down 20 percent to 1.23 billion rupees.

A segment breakdown showed manufacturing falling to 3.4 billion rupees from 3.7 billion rupees a year earlier, while retail sales rose to 9.0 billion rupees from 7.1 billion.

The group has been investing in expanding the retail network.

Key product of Ceylon Cold Stores include ice cream and carbonated drinks. It is not clear whether sales are down due to rains, an overall squeeze in spending or competition from other brands.