Sri Lanka stocks end down 1.2-pct

Oct 25, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks closed lower Tuesday, losing half their gains in the last two days when shares had been pushed up in thin trade amid rumours of attempts to push out a regulator fighting equities fraud, brokers said. The main All Share Price Index fell 1. 22 percent (78.31 points) […]

Provisional Help

Oct 25, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Seylan Bank’s profits in the September 2011 quarter rose 26. 8 percent to 396 million rupees from a year earlier, helped by lower loan loss provisions, interim accounts showed. The group reported earnings of 5. 63 rupees for the quarter. Nine month earnings were 1.63 rupees due mainly […]

Finance Channel

Oct 25, 2011 (LBO) – HSBC in Sri Lanka, which has channelled about two billion dollars to infrastructure building in the island, sees more potential in the telecom sector, an official said. The mobile telecom sector is moving from the mainly narrow band GSM technology to broadband third generation (3G), Nick A Nicolaou, chief executive […]

Sri Lanka in talks with Sheraton, Raffles, DoubleTree

Oct 25, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is holding talks with top international hotel chains to invest in the island after the end of its 30-year year civil war, a senior minister said. Tourist arrivals to Sri Lanka rose sharply with the end of the ethnic war in May 2009. Minister of economic development Basil […]

Sri Lanka cancels land sale to China firm

Oct 25, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has cancelled the sale without tender of prime land in the capital to a Chinese defence contractor to build a hotel and is renegotiating the deal with alternate land being offered. Minister of economic development Basil Rajapaksa said the government had changed its policy and decided not to […]

India hikes rates again, sees slowdown

MUMBAI, October 25, 2011 (AFP) – India’s inflation-fighting central bank on Tuesday raised interest rates by a quarter-point, the 13th hike since March last year, while warning of a further economic slowdown this year. The rise in borrowing costs is likely to infuriate business leaders, who are already worried about growing signs of slackening domestic […]

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October 25, 2011 (AFP) – The office of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse said on Tuesday that a new war crimes charge filed in an Australian court against him was “hilarious”. “It’s hilarious to file charges against a head of state who has defeated terrorism in Sri Lanka,” Rajapakse’s spokesman Bandula Jayasekera told AFP by […]

Australia presses Sri Lanka over war crimes claims

PERTH, October 25, 2011 (AFP) – Australian leader Julia Gillard on Tuesday urged Sri Lanka to address claims of serious human rights violations as a man filed war crimes charges against President Mahinda Rajapakse. “Instead they caused such brutality to them, to our country, and also posed a threat to our region. ” Sri Lanka […]

Sri Lanka state to take over stalled high rise project

Oct 25, 2011 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan government is to take over a high rise hotel and apartment tower whose construction was stalled after its parent firm got into financial trouble. The takeover is to be effected under a new law that is being put through the judicial and parliamentary approvals process that provides […]

Sri Lanka stocks end up one percent

Oct 24, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks rose Monday with many shares pushed up in thin trade, led by sharp gains in illiquid ones, amid a controversy over an attempt to push out a regulator cracking down on equities fraud, brokers said. There was one crossing of Seylan Bank of 529,300 shares at 65 […]

Loan Growth

Oct 24, 2011 (LBO) – RAM Ratings Lanka has assigned long- and short-term financial institution ratings of BBB- and P3 to Softlogic Finance with a stable outlook on the long-term rating. The ratings are premised upon the improvement in its market position while maintaining its asset quality at a level that commensurate with the BBB-rating […]

Sri Lanka to reduce travel fee for South Asian tourists

Oct 24, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka is likely to charge a reduced fee from south Asian tourists visiting the island under a new scheme that provides online approval for travel that will replace an on-arrival visa scheme next year. Minister of economic development Basil Rajapaksa said the proposed 50 US dollar per person fee […]

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