Category: Money

Oct 28, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s People’s Leasing Company (PLC) has raised 1.4 billion rupees by selling lease-backed securities, which the largest such deal in the country so far its structuring agent, NDB Investment Bank said. PLC has a 24-branch network at and the funds will be used to expand lending and its branch […]

Oct 27, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will regulate over-the-counter debt securities by specifying disclosure requirements, a regulatory official said, amid warnings that liquid markets and low interest rates were increasing risk taking. “We are very mindful of the need to regulate the unlisted securities market,” director of capital market development at the Securities and […]

SINGAPORE, October 25, 2010 (AFP) – The Singapore and Australian stock exchanges on Monday announced a multi-billion dollar merger that will create one of the world’s largest and most diversified financial trading hubs. Singapore’s SGX offered 8.2 billion US dollars to take over Australia’s ASX to form ASX-SGX Ltd, which will be the world’s fifth […]

Oct 20, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank has stopped overnight auctions to withdraw excess liquidity from money markets until further notice, but will continue term auctions of securities to sterilize excess liquidity, officials said. Last month Sri Lanka also raised a billion dollars in international markets of which only about half was used […]

Oct 12, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s largest fund management firm is selling an investment plan which allows cautious savers participate in a stock market upside but be protected from a steep fall by putting the bulk of the money in debt. “If you are an investor who wants higher returns (because interest rates are […]

Sept 27, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s rupee soared above 112.00 rupees to the greenback Monday the highest since December 2008, when the country was in the midst of a balance of payments crisis, dealers said. The central bank has high policy rates compared to its anchor US currency allowing it to push the currency […]

Sept 21, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank said it has decided to hold policy interest rates steady at a meeting Tuesday given falling market rates and increased credit flows to the private sector. The central bank said it expects market interest rates to fall further. “Market interest rates continued to adjust downwards in […]

Sept 10, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Urban Development Authority (UDA), a state agency, has launched a 5-year bond to raise 10 billion rupees and 30 percent of the issue is open to foreign investors, officials said. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, secretary to Sri Lanka’s defence ministry, under which the agency operates, said the money would be […]

July 16, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has appointed Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and The Royal Bank of Scotland as rating advisors for four years, the Central Bank said. Sri Lanka wants to push its speculative sovereign rating to investment grade by 2014. The Central Bank has also […]

July 01, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will appoint an international investment bank as a ‘rating advisor’ next month ahead of a US dollar denominated sovereign bond to be sold later in the year, a media report said. Bloomberg newswires said the size of the bond issue has not yet been decided but earlier reports […]

HONG KONG, June 21, 2010 (AFP) – Gold closed at a record high above 1,264 dollars an ounce in Hong Kong on Monday as the greenback weakened against Asian currencies after China’s announcement of a more flexible yuan. The precious metal ended at 1,264.50 US dollars an ounce. The main catalyst for the rally was […]

June 10, 2010 (LBO) – A committee made up of top central bank, finance ministry and private sector representatives had been appointed to develop strategy to push Sri Lanka’s sovereign rating to investment grade, the island’s monetary authority said. The committee is charged with devising a strategy of taking Sri Lanka current speculative B+ (Fitch) […]