Category:
Box Terminal
Sept 22, 2011 (LBO) – A Sino-Lanka consortium that is to build a container terminal in Colombo’s new deep-water South Port has signed a deal with Sri Lanka’s investment promotion agency entitling it for tax breaks. Building of the 500 million US dollar terminal by the consortium consisting of China Merchants Holdings, Sri Lanka’s Aitken […]
Big Ticket
Sept 22, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s National Development Bank is positioning itself to push ‘big ticket’ deals in global markets partnering with Singapore’s DBS Bank as the end of a war bring new investment opportunities, officials said. NDB Bank group chief executive said Russell de Mel said an investment banking partnership with Singapore’s DBS […]
Galle literary festival in Sri Lanka gears up for 2012
Sept 22, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Galle literary festival is notching up writers and sponsors for 2012 but it would remain ‘intimate’ giving audiences an opportunity to engage more closely with writers, organizers said. The festival started in 2007 amidst a three decade old war which ended two years later. The festival has since […]
Sri Lanka manufactures lobby to curb rubber farmer trade access
Sept 22, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan rubber products manufacturers are lobbying to double an export cess on raw rubber exports as prices remain high amid strong demand and tight local supply. Manufacturers want the export cess, that had been raised to 12 rupees a kilo only earlier this year, doubled to 24 rupees, according […]
Online Tribute
Sept 22, 2011 (LBO) – Ray Wijewardene, a Sri Lankan aviator and tropical agriculture specialist is being remembered online at www.raywijewardene.net, led by volunteers who want to preserve his legacy. Though a scientist and inventor he was best known publicly for his enthusiasm for aviation and flying small aircraft he had built himself. While in […]
Pushed Back
NEW YORK, September 21, 2011 (AFP) – Sentencing of Raj Rajaratnam, the hedge fund magnate convicted in the biggest Wall Street insider trading case in years, has been postponed until October. A court order Wednesday by New York federal Judge Richard Holwell moved sentencing day from September 27 to October 13. No reason was given. […]
Fed backs more stimulus, sidesteps pressure
WASHINGTON, September 21, 2011 (AFP) – The Federal Reserve redoubled its efforts to juice the US economy on Wednesday, unveiling a $400 billion stimulus plan and shunning political calls for the bank to take a back seat. The Fed’s top policy panel unleashed the latest in a battery of tools aimed at rekindling the troubled […]
Sri Lanka Treasuries yields up
Sept 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Treasury bill yields edged up across maturities and Wednesday’s auction, with the 3-month yield up 3 basis points to 7. 14 percent, data from the state debt office showed. On Wednesday authorities weakened the peg 10 cents to 110. 20 rupees in the spot market. The 6-month yield […]
Sri Lanka stocks end down 0.5-pct
Sept 21, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lankan stocks slumped again Wednesday with the benchmark index slipping below the 6,800 point mark amid heavy trade in a newly listed firm and several off-market private deals, brokers said. The main All Share Price Index fell 0. 53 percent (36.26 points) to 6,792.31, while the more liquid Milanka […]
Motor Move
Sept 21, 2011 (LBO) – The Sri Lankan agency for South Korea’s KIA Motors is to invest about a billion rupees in the next three years to expand its service facilities amid a surge in sales of sports utility vehicles. Imports of motor vehicles into the island surged after the government slashed import duties, some […]
Box Movements
Sept 21, 2011 (LBO) – Container cargo volumes at Sri Lanka’s Colombo port fell in July although still higher so far this year compared with the same period in 2010, with a noticeable downturn in transhipment traffic. The total number of containers fell 2. 6 percent in July 2011 to 354,054 TEUs (twenty-foot foot equivalent […]
Asset Quality
Sept 21, 2011 (LBO) – RAM Ratings Lanka has confirmed Sampath Bank’s long- and short-term financial institution ratings at AA and P1 with the long-term rating carrying a stable outlook. We also derive comfort from the Bank’s healthy internal capital-generation rate of 20.38% as at end-Dec 2010, which stands the best among its similar-rated peers. […]