Reuters: ** Sri Lankan shares inched lower on Monday, retreating after six straight sessions of gains to a near 11-week closing high, as investors sold diversified stocks such as John Keells Holdings Plc.
** The bourse hit its highest close since April 18 on Friday, buoyed by the government’s decision to launch a $2.2 billion Japan-funded Light Railway Transit (LRT) project and some other stalled infrastructure projects, brokers said.
** The benchmark stock index ended 0.2% down at 5,504.60.
** The index rose 2.67% last week, notching its second consecutive weekly gain. However, the bourse is down 8.87% so far this year.
** Shares in conglomerate John Keells Holdings fell 1.8%, while Ceylon Tobacco Company Plc ended 1.5% weaker and Commercial bank of Ceylon Plc, the country’s biggest listed lender, lost 1.8%.
** Stock market turnover was 136.3 million rupees ($773,992), well below this year’s daily average of about 542.2 million rupees. Last year’s daily average came in at 834 million rupees.
** Foreigners bought on a net basis for the second time in 13 sessions, purchasing a net 15.1 million rupees worth of shares, but the bourse has seen net foreign outflows of 6.91 billion rupees so far this year, the index data showed.
** The government’s launch of central highway and light railway projects helped lift hopes that the country’s transformation would result in a faster economic growth rate, stockbrokers said.
** Sri Lanka is unlikely to hit its full-year economic growth target of 3-4% following Easter Sunday bombings and a Reuters poll has forecast growth to slump to its lowest in nearly two decades this year.
** Meanwhile, the currency closed slightly firmer at 176.05/15 per dollar, compared with Friday’s close of 176.10/15, as exporter dollar sales surpassed importer greenback demand. The rupee rose 0.17% last week, and is up 3.72% so far this year.
** The rupee dropped 16% in 2018 and was one of the worst-performing currencies in Asia.
** The island nation raised $2 billion via 5-year and 10-year sovereign bond sales last month, tapping global capital markets for the second time in three months.
** Foreign investors sold a net 3.93 billion rupees worth of government securities in the week ended July 3, extending the year-to-date net foreign outflow to 22.4 billion rupees, the central bank data showed.
** The central bank cut its key interest rates on May 31 to support a faltering economy as overall business and consumer confidence slumped following deadly bomb attacks in April.
($1 = 176.1000 Sri Lankan rupees)
(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
