Sri Lanka releases Economist magazine

Sept 16, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has allowed its citizens to read the latest issue of The Economist magazine, which carries a story on a controversial change in the country’s constitution after being held back by customs authorities for nearly a week. Sri Lanka is recovering from a 30-year ethnic war with Tamil separatists, […]

Personal Investment

Sept 15, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s NDB Aviva Wealth Management, a unit of Sri Lanka’s NDB Bank and UK’s Aviva has launched four mutual funds that can be easily customized to suit the investment needs of individual savers, officials said. The mutual funds could also be backed by bank fixed deposits from NDB Bank […]

Lower Loss

Sept 16, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s The Finance Company (TFC) reduced losses to 431 million rupees in the June 2010 quarter compared with a loss of 693 million rupees the year before, a stock exchange filing said. Interest income fell 42 percent to 660 million rupees while interest expenses fell 45 percent to 814 […]

Port Project

Sept 16, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has awarded a contract to build and operate a new deep-water container terminal in Colombo port to a consortium consisting of China Merchant Holdings International and Aitken Spence, a statement said. The new terminal will have a quay wall length of 1. 2 kilometres with a minimum alongside […]

Sri Lankan stocks close up 1.69-pct

Sept 16, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks recovered to pass the 6,300 points mark Thursday, from price gains on index heavy and midcap stocks, while Hotel Reefcomber shares continued to be heavily traded, brokers said. Nations Trust Bank closed at 84. 00 rupees, up 7.60 with 2.88 million shares changing hands, brokers said. The […]

Japan intervenes in forex markets for first time since 2004

TOKYO, September 15, 2010 (AFP) – Japan on Wednesday intervened in currency markets for the first time since 2004 in a bid to stem the yen’s appreciation against the dollar, Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said. The dollar had hit a fresh 15-year low of 82. 86 yen in Tokyo before gaining sharply following the intervention, […]

Sri Lanka securities watchdog halts broker credit

Sept 15, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Securities and Exchange Commission has ordered brokering firms to “absolutely refrain” from giving credit for clients to trade in stocks as rising prices reduced the immediate risk of delaying payment. In Sri Lanka purchases have to be settled in three days (T+3). However clients could continue to get […]

Sri Lanka Islamic insurer short of compliant investments

Sept 15, 2010 (LBO) – Amana Takaful, an Islamic insurer in Sri Lanka says the market does not have enough investment vehicles that are compliant with Shariah laws and also local regulations, where it can invest funds. Investment income from bank had fallen to 18.7 million rupees in 2009 from 36.2 million rupees a year […]

Soft Support

Sept 15, 2010 (LBO) – Firms in an industrial park in Sri Lanka are getting enterprise resource planning software (EFP) from Swedish based IFS, in as little as six weeks, making it a record for implementing such software, officials said. IFS software comes in modules which can be implemented at each firm connected to the […]

Reduced Risk

Sept 15, 2010 (LBO) – Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services has raised the long-term local currency corporate credit rating on Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) to ‘BB-‘ from ‘B+’ with a stable outlook, a statement said. At the same time, Standard & Poor’s confirmed the ‘B+’ long-term foreign currency corporate credit rating on the company and […]

News Trend

HONG KONG, September 15, 2010 (AFP) – Asian newspapers are defying the global print media meltdown while their counterparts in the West spill red ink and lay off staff in droves as readers flock to online news. Print advertising — the lifeblood of a newspaper’s revenue base — has plunged 47 percent in the hard-hit […]

Sri Lanka stocks close up 1.03-pct

Sept 15, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares closed higher Wednesday with heavy trading in low value shares, brokers said. The All Share Price Index closed at 6,238.45, up 1.03 percent (63.39 points) while the more liquid Milanka index rose 0. 56 percent (36.45) to close at 6,488.71, according to stock exchange provisional figures. Turnover […]

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