Sri Lanka Central Bank to increase forex trading

Aug 11, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Central Bank has called for bids for a new treasury management system to modernise its dealing room amid plans to increase foreign exchange trading as reserves grow, a statement said. Only bidders who have installed treasury management systems in at least one central bank or monetary authority or […]

Sri Lankan stocks close down 0.28-pct

Aug 11, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks closed down Wednesday, as investors opted to take defensive positions on speculative shares despite Tuesday’s rally, while Environmental Resources Investments (ERI) group shares lost ground, brokers said. The All Share Price Index closed at 5,078. 64, down 0.28 percent (14.30 points) Wednesday, while the Milanka index of […]

Travel Tale

Aug 11, 2010 (LBO) – Lanka Ashok Leyland, an Indo-Lanka joint venture importing and assembling buses has reported a sharp increase in profit and sales as post-war demand increases demand for passenger transport. The government-owned Lanka Leyland has a 41.77 percent stake in Lanka Ashok Leyland and Ashok Leyland of India a 27.85 percent stake […]

Corporate Cash

Aug 11, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s NDB Investment Bank (NDBIB) said it has raised over eight billion rupees in the capital market for corporate clients during the first half of 2010. The bank’s Corporate Advisory Division has just concluded the Initial Public Offering of PC House Limited, with the issue being oversubscribed by over […]

India puts pressure on telcos over BlackBerry

NEW DELHI, August 10, 2010 (AFP) – India’s home ministry plans to meet mobile operators on Thursday to discuss allowing security agencies access to encrypted BlackBerry messages, a government official said. Indian law stipulates phone companies have the responsibility to ensure that intelligence agencies can lawfully monitor data handled by them. “The meeting will be […]

Sri Lanka war: US urged to press for international probe

WASHINGTON, August 10, 2010 (AFP) – A group of US lawmakers is urging the Obama administration to push for an independent international investigation into alleged war crimes that occurred during Sri Lanka’s civil war. In a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the members of Congress called for such a probe saying […]

Sri Lankan president sacks minister over dengue row

August 10, 2010 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president Tuesday sacked a maverick minister who had tied a state official to a tree as punishment for failing to control the spread of dengue fever in the country, an official said. Highways minister Mervyn Silva was dismissed and his ruling party membership suspended pending a disciplinary inquiry, […]

Sri Lankan stocks close up 4.73-pct

Aug 10, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks rallied and closed sharply higher, bouncing back over the 5,000 points mark Tuesday, after plunging at the opening, brokers said. In a privately negotiated off-the-floor deal, Perpetual Capital bought 908,000 shares of Housing Development and Finance Corporation (a 14.03 percent stake) at 310.00 rupees per share. Institutional […]

Box Trade

Aug 10, 2010 (LBO) – Container volumes at a Colombo port private terminal run by an associate firm of John Keells Holdings rose in July as harbour delays were sorted out and trade continued to grow, latest data showed. South Asia Gateway Terminals, a key contributor to JKH’s bottomline, handled 173,085 TEUs or twenty-foot equivalent […]

Sri Lanka gets Thai hotel investment

Aug 10, 2010 (LBO) – Thailand’s Minor International has struck a deal with Sri Lanka’s Hemas group to acquire and upgrade a beach resort for 22 million dollars under the ‘Anantara’ brand. A stock exchange filing said Hemas subsidiary Serendib Hotels has got 19.9 percent and Minor International 80.1 percent of the shares of Cyprea […]

Sri Lanka Finlay unit tea exports slow down

Aug 10, 2010 (LBO) – Tea exports by Finlays Colombo have been slowed down by high prices in the first half of the financial year, a stock exchanging filing said. “In response, we shifted strategy towards including bulk storage of commodities requiring refrigeration, to off-set the drop in volumes in the storage of packaged products. […]

Global warming threatens Asian rice production: study

WASHINGTON, August 9, 2010 (AFP) – Even modest rises in global temperatures will drive down rice production in Asia, the world’s biggest grower of the cereal grain that millions of poor people depend on as a staple food, a study published Monday warned. Researchers from the United States, the Philippines and the Rome-based Food and […]

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