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Sri Lanka stocks lifted by telecom gains
July 31, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks closed higher Thursday lifted by gains in telecom heavyweights after the dominant fixed line operator Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) reported a surprise jump in June quarter profits The All Share Price Index gained 1.41 percent (34.27 points) to close at 2,463.41 while the more liquid Milanka went […]
Sri Lanka Telecom share price gains after surprise profit jump
July 31, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka Telecom’s share price rose Thursday after it reported June quarter profit nearly tripled to 1.5 billion rupees helped by its newly profitable mobile subsidiary.The stock was up 3.33 percent or 1.50 to 46.50 rupees around 1.00 p.m. on the Colombo stock exchange, after hitting a high of 47.50, […]
Bank Trends
July 31, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Nations Trust Bank (NTB) said June quarter net profit rose 54 percent to 141 million rupees from a year ago, with a sharp increase in specific provisioning for bad loans. Gross income went up 34 percent to nearly 3.3 billion rupees, the bank said in interim results released […]
Two decades on, South Asian grouping still to prove relevance
July 31, 2008 (AFP) – South Asian leaders are set for a weekend summit in Colombo where they are expected to repeat pious platitudes, highlighting that the 23-year-old regional grouping has little to show by way of economic progress. Observers compare summits to movie productions, but the script has changed little since the first SAARC […]
Sri Lanka insurance regulator cracks down on misleading ads
July 31, 2008 (LBO) – The Insurance Board of Sri Lanka has revealed it had warned several insurance firms that violated regulations and also resorted to advertising campaigns that misled the public.The Board said it issued warnings to two insurers, one violating rules on investments in government securities; and the other for having granted loans […]
Shell profits gush on record high oil prices
LONDON, July 31, 2008 (AFP) – Anglo-Dutch energy giant Royal Dutch Shell said on Thursday that high oil prices helped push its net profit up by a third to 11.556 billion dollars (7.409 billion euros) in the second quarter. Profits rocketed despite flagging production which was hampered by violence at facilities in Nigeria. Output fell […]
Profit hits 11.68 bln dlrs at ExxonMobil
NEW YORK, July 31, 2008 (AFP) – US energy giant ExxonMobil on Thursday reported a 14 percent jump in quarterly net profits to a record 11.68 billion dollars in results below most forecasts on Wall Street. The second-quarter earnings amounted to 2.27 dollars per share excluding special items compared with an average forecast of 2.52 […]
Emerging economies to drive world auto sales to record highs
OTTAWA, July 30, 2008 (AFP) – Auto sales in places like Brazil, India and China are expected to drive world demand to new records despite a sales slump in Europe and the United States, a Canadian bank said Wednesday.Global car sales advanced a mere 1.5 percent in the first half of 2008, undercut by slowing […]
Wrecked WTO talks change the world trade game
GENEVA, July 30, 2008 (AFP) – Ministers saw a “new order” take hold of global trade Wednesday, with emerging economies calling the shots after WTO plans collapsed in a potentially devastating blow to millions of the world’s poor. “One thing that we can celebrate is that deals here are no longer made just by the […]
Sri Lankan attack defied by Sehwag with unbeaten 91
GALLE, July 31, 2008 (AFP) – Virender Sehwag hammered a quickfire 91 not out as India raced to 151 for no loss in their first innings at lunch on the opening day of the second Test here on Thursday. The aggressive opener reached his 14th Test half-century when he cut off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan for his […]