Safe Zone

May 15, 2012 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s pioneering Islamic insurer, Amana Takaful PLC plans to invest more into fixed income securities, after its bottomline was hit by falling equity prices and lower returns from gold, officials said. "The main contributor to the losses of the general insurance business is the motor business. Steps have been taken to ensure all motor sub-classes are profitable through prudent pricing and underwriting strategies," Chief Executive, Ehsan Zaheed told shareholders.

Bullion Wave

The group also witnessed fluctuations in the world bullion market. In 2011, Amana Takaful invested 346 million rupees in the bullion market, net gains was only 13.25 million rupees, due to volatility in the gold market.

Bullion prices started from 1,400 dollars per ounce to hit a peak at 1,900 dollars per ounce in August, before falling to an average of 1,600 dollars towards end 2011.

A weak greenback and the Euro-debt crisis contributed to the bullion market’s fortunes last year, but Amana is optimistic gold could always bounce back to the range of 2,000 dollars and stay beyond.

In January 2012, gold prices picked up, averaging between 1,700 dollars to 1,750 dollars per ounce. This helped Amana Ta