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Sri Lanka shares end up 1.12-pct
July 19, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks closed up Monday, lifted by speculative buying mainly by retailers with brokers urging investors to be more careful and focus on fundamentals as company earnings were improving. Some sectors remained attractive like plantations, manufacturing, banks and finance, he said. Ceylon & Foreign Trades was the day’s highest […]
Sri Lanka to invite investment for marina
July 19, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is to call for tenders from investors to build a marina at a new tourist resort being developed on the island’s north-western coast, a senior tourism official said. Tissa Sooriyagoda, project director at the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority, said the Kalpitiya tourist resort covers a total of […]
Sri Lanka hotel room rates to be upped 20-pct in winter: official
July 19, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s leisure operators will push up room rates by about 20 percent in the coming winter season, amid a post-war tourism boom that has seen a near 50 percent jump in arrivals, officials said. John Keells Holdings said it had seen an immediate increase in its coastal resorts and […]
Tele Talk
MUMBAI, July 19, 2010 (AFP) – Shares in India’s Reliance Communications rose nearly four percent Monday on a media report that Abu Dhabi’s Etisalat was close to buying a 26-percent stake in the firm for 3. 0 billion dollars. Reliance paid the government 85. 8 billion rupees (1.86 billion dollars) for third-generation (3G) spectrum at […]
Sri Lanka wide-eyed primate caught on camera for the first time
LONDON, July 19, 2010 (AFP) – A “cute” primate so rare it was thought to be extinct has been caught on camera in the forests of Sri Lanka for the first time, scientists said Monday. The Horton Plains slender loris is a small, nocturnal animal which can grow up to 17 centimetres (six inches) long […]
Oil prices fall in Asian trade
SINGAPORE, July 19, 2010 (AFP) – Oil prices dipped in Asian trade Monday as sentiment was dampened by weak US economic data that spurred concerns of slow demand in the world’s largest energy consumer, analysts said. “There is still some negative sentiment, but at the moment (the price) hasn’t fallen precipitously. Given the data flow, […]
Clinton announces major aid projects for Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, July 19, 2010 (AFP) – US Secretary of State Clinton on Monday announced a raft of major aid projects focused on water and energy for Pakistan. The aid is a key part of the effort by the US administration to engage more fully with Pakistan, which has long seen Washington as interested only in […]
Sri Lanka domestic air services chased by 13 firms: official
July 19, 2010 (LBO ) – Thirteen firms that applied to start domestic air services in Sri Lanka after the end of a 30-year war are awaiting the final nod from the island’s aviation ministry and the president’s office, an official said. Director general of Sri Lanka’s civil aviation authority H M C Nimalsiri said […]
Sri Lanka central bank independence hurt by law
July 19, 2010 (LBO) – A groundbreaking book by a former Sri Lankan central banker has shown how the institutions independence could be improved so that it can better resist fiscal and political pressure to print money and generate inflation. Economic analysts have warned that direct subscriptions to Treasury bill auctions is a ‘quantity easing’ […]
Floor Tussle
July 18, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Bharti Airtel unit has taken floor prices imposed by the regulator to court complaining that it helps the market leader and hurts the consumer, a media report said. Bharti Airtel Lanka, has petitioned Sri Lanka’s supreme court, The Island newspaper said Saturday. The court has to agree to […]