Sri Lanka Treasuries yields up, 01-year bill 9.41-pct

ECONOMYNEXT - Sri Lanka Treasuries yields rose across maturities at Wednesday's auction with the 01-year bill yield up 09 basis points to 9.41%, data from the state debt office showed.

The yield on 03-month bills rose to 8.78% from 8.71% on 27 September, when they were last offered.

The 6-month bill yield rose 02 basis points to 9.10%.

The debt office sold 5.7 billion rupees of 12-month bills, 8.1 billion rupees of 06-month bills and 2.5 billion rupees of 03-month bills.

Sri Lankan shares end firmer on retail buying

Reuters: Sri Lankan shares extended gains into a second session on Wednesday in heavy trade and posted their highest close in over two months, as retail investors bought, particularly plantation stocks, after recent foreign buying, brokers said.

Turnover was 1.93 billion rupees ($12.6 million), more than double this year’s daily average of 935.8 million rupees.

Foreign investors were net sellers of shares worth 132.8 million rupees, after having bought 3.7 billion rupees of equities in the 17 sessions through Tuesday. They have net bought 20.1 billion rupees worth of shares so far this year.

The Colombo stock index ended 0.55 percent firmer at 6,559.61, its highest close since Aug. 4. The index rose 1.4 percent last week in its fourth straight weekly gain.

“There was a lot of foreign interest in banks and retail interest in some plantation companies. We see a revival in retail buying,” said Acuity Stockbrokers CEO Prashan Fernando.

Shares of Commercial Bank of Ceylon Plc, the country’s biggest listed lender, ended up 0.5 percent, Hatton National Bank Plc rose 2.7 percent and Sampath Bank Plc ended 3.4 percent firmer. 

($1 = 153.4000 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

Sri Lankan shares end firmer on foreign buying

Reuters: Sri Lankan shares ended marginally higher on Tuesday in heavy trade, near a nine-week closing high hit last week, as foreign buying boosted investor sentiment, brokers said.

Foreign investors bought a net 499.3 million rupees ($3.25 million) worth of equities on Tuesday, extending their year-to-date net foreign inflow to 20.6 billion rupees worth of shares.

Turnover stood at 2.2 billion rupees, more than double this year’s daily average of 930.5 million rupees.

The Colombo stock index ended 0.12 percent firmer at 6,523.68, near its highest close since Aug. 4 hit on Friday. The index had risen 1.4 percent last week, recording its fourth straight weekly gain.

“Foreign buying helped to keep the market positive. There was a lot of foreign buying in banks,” said Hussain Gani, deputy CEO at Softlogic Stockbrokers.

Shares of biggest listed lender Commercial Bank of Ceylon Plc ended 1.9 percent up, while Hatton National Bank Plc rose 2.4 percent and Sampath Bank Plc ended 2.5 percent firmer. 

($1 = 153.4000 Sri Lankan rupees) 

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

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)

Plantation share rise –recipe for a potential bubble

By Duruthu Edirimuni Chandrasekera

With high tea prices recorded over the past three months, retail traders are grabbing onto plantation shares, alarming regulators as this can be a potential bubble, analysts say.

“There’s a bit of good news on the plantations sector as tea prices are high and their June quarter results have been good. So, the retailers extrapolate tea prices and gauge the values of these stocks, which may be not so good news in the long run,” an analyst told the Business Times.

Another analyst added that there’s certainly a fundamental backing in the rise of these shares, with tea prices at auctions in August averaging Rs. 606.86 per kg, up from Rs. 473.78 a year ago, as per a Forbes and Walker Tea Brokers report. Prices of teas from all three elevations rose during August with the biggest gains in the high grown varieties. But this rise in shares shouldn’t last long. “A little bit of good news in an illiquid sector like this will send prices up,” he added.

Share of Lankem Developments from June 30 to September 28 rose by 230 per cent (from Rs. 3 per share to Rs. 9.90). A share in Madulsima Plantations which was Rs. 6.70 and went up to Rs. 15.50, a 131.34 per cent surge during the same, corresponding period. A share at Udapussellawa rose by 123.08 per cent, Malwatta up by 121.43 per cent, Colombo Trust Finance by 106 per cent and Balangoda Plantations by 106 per cent during the said 3- month period.

It’s a volatile sector and retailers should exercise caution, a regulator told the Business Times. While this isn’t a replica of the 2010 era when the mafia stumped the market with pump and dump in dud shares, prolonging these share hikes could be a recipe for disaster, she said.

www.sundaytimes.lk

Continuous disregard of rules irks CSE

By Duruthu Edirimuni Chandrasekera

Are rules meant to be followed or broken? It’s a billion dollar question in the case of certain listed firms at the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE).

For instance CSE rules say that within two (2) market days any information pertaining to the financials of a listed firm should be disclosed to the CSE. But yet, there’re errant firms who fail to follow this ‘simple’ rule.

A sale of 9.9 per cent stake on August 31 was communicated to CSE only after two weeks. The CSE when contacted said they’re in touch with the particular firm. “We wrote to them for an explanation,” a CSE source told the Business Times but declined to say what happened afterwards. Anyway it was clear that this behaviour has annoyed them. The authorities are also having some issues in terms of Section 7.8 of the Listing Rules of the CSE, which specify immediate disclosure pertaining to a firm’s share dealing. The CSE has seen instances where they aren’t immediate and has had ‘one-to-ones’ with certain offenders who complied after many ‘calls’ threatening them to meet the terms, officials said.

This particular instance was a 178,931,037 share transaction. Directors of the holding company who are also directors in the particular firm effected the sale.

The CSE will be scrutinising firms in future pertaining to such instances and the new regulations will deter offenders from delayed disclosures, officials added.

The CSE is a disclosure based environment where public companies are required to disclose meaningful financial and other information to the public as it provides a common pool of knowledge for all investors to use to judge for themselves whether to buy, sell or hold a particular security. Only through the steady flow of timely, complete, and exact information can people make sound investment decisions, analysts said.

www.sundaytimes.lk