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Sri Lanka stocks up, bonds steady, after war, rate cut
May 21, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka stocks rose 4.25 percent in morning trade Thursday following a national holiday to celebrate the end of an internal war, while bonds yields remained steady following a rate cut, dealers said. On Tuesday at the weekly auction of treasury securities 12-month bill yields fell 32 basis points to […]
Sri Lanka shares surge 5.2%
May 21, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares surged Thursday led by blue chips as investors ignored a crop of weak quarterly results to focus on future earnings with the end of the decades-old war, brokers said. Hatangala said he expects the upbeat mood to prevail, now that the conflict that acted as a drag […]
No Watch
May 21, 2009 (LBO) – RAM Ratings Lanka said a rating watch on Arpico Finance Company has been lifted after the company met a Central Bank requirement for minimum capital of 200 million rupees by March 2009. RAM Ratings Lanka said the regulator would assess the company’s core capital after financial were audited, but RAM […]
Safe Custody
May 21, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s state-run Bank of Ceylon had provided deposit and gold related services of more than 500 million rupees as displaced people in camps in northern Sri Lanka sought the safety of the bank, a top official said. Bank of Ceylon (BoC) chairman Gamini Wickramasinghe, said more than 10,000 people […]
Cyber Security
May 21, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lankan companies are concerned over data security with most still not having adequate protection, opening up opportunities for network security players, business research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan said. A survey done by Frost & Sullivan of chief information officers in Sri Lanka, revealed that major threats for […]
Maldives joins International Labour Organization
May 21, 2009 (LBO) – The Indian Ocean tourist paradise of Maldives has joined the International Labour Organization (ILO), the UN agency which deals with labour issues said.The membership started on May 15, with president Mohamed Nasheed accepting obligations under the constitution of the ILO. “We warmly welcome the Republic of Maldives to the ILO […]
Sri Lanka navy chief urges common approach to maritime security
May 21, 2009 (LBO) – Indian Ocean navies need to co-operate better to ensure adequate responses to challenges ranging from terrorism to natural disasters, Sri Lankan navy commander Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda said.It would be based on a consensual and co-operative approach to find remedies for regional maritime security concerns. “This forum will be a springboard […]
Sri Lanka rating outlook cut to negative by S&P
May 21, 2009(LBO) – Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has lowered the outlook of Sri Lanka’s ‘B’ sovereign rating to negative from stable, on weak budgets, fallen foreign reserves and uncertainty over an International Monetary Fund loan. “The negative outlook reflects our opinion that underlying pressures on Sri Lanka’s external liquidity position have intensified, while the […]
Sri Lanka cuts rates, moves to single policy corridor
May 21, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka moved to a single policy rate with an 11.50 percent window with unrestricted accesss, effectively cutting policy rates by 150 basis as inflation fell and the central bank acted to boost credit. The central bank earlier operated a discount or ‘penal reverse repurchase’ window of 13.0 percent with […]
No More
May 20, 2009 (LBO) – A man who ran an illegal Ponzi-style ‘investment’ scheme in Southern Sri Lanka, offering high interest rates until its collapse last year when he failed to repay investors, has been shot dead, police said. Piyadasa Ratnayake, from the southern Sri Lankan township of Hungama was abducted in the early hours […]
Red Ink
May 20, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Dialog Telekom said its broadband and pay TV units continued to lose money in the March quarter, contributing to a group loss of 1.86 billion rupees but that a turnaround in the group’s fortune’s was visible as overall revenue stabilised. Dialog, the island’s dominant mobile phone operator, said […]
Indian industry looks to new government to boost growth
MUMBAI, May 20, 2009 (AFP) – The newly elected Congress-led government needs to move swiftly and decisively to restore blistering economic growth in India, even if that means higher inflation, industry leaders here say. As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh prepares for a second term of office, business executives said they hoped the government would announce […]