Category: Economy and Markets
Sri Lanka shares sustain gains
Nov 03, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares ended higher for the fourth day running, Monday, sustaining the gains made last week in what appears to be an improvement in investor sentiment, brokers said. Sri Lanka Telecom rose one rupee to 40 rupees while Distilleries Company rose over nine percent (4.75 rupees) to end at […]
Sri Lanka defence, subsidy costs overshoot ahead of next budget
Nov 03, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s budget for 2009 will focus on keeping a military campaign on track while also providing resources to build infrastructure, though expenses in the current budget have overshot targets, a government minister has said. Junior finance minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya told ETV’s Lanka Business Report show that managing the 2008 […]
Sri Lanka central bank T-bill stock spikes to Rs77bn; new peg Rs110
Nov 02, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka central bank’s Treasury bills stock rose to 77 billion rupees two days after the monetary authority broke a peg with the US dollar but failed to establish a clean float of the currency, the latest data shows.On Thursday a peg at 108.00 rupees to the US dollar was […]
Sri Lanka bad budgets, hot borrowings, dollar peg has endangered economy: IMF
Nov 01, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has to change its ways to protect itself from the negative effects of bad budgets, foreign borrowings, and a ‘de facto’ dollar peg of the rupee, the International Monetary Fund has said. The IMF’s executive directors, in an annual assessment of the island, said the economy and the […]
‘s inflation eases to 20.2-pct
Oct 31, 2008 (LBO) – Consumer inflation in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo fell to 20.2 percent in the 12-months to October from 24.3 percent a month ago, the central bank said. On Thursday the central bank broke its peg with the US dollar and the rupee fell by two rupees, but on Friday it continued […]
Sri Lanka IOC unit profits fall on taxes, hedging costs
Oct 31, 2008 (LBO) – Profits of Lanka IOC, a unit of India’s IOC fell 83 percent in the September quarter to 109 million rupees amidst high taxes and hedging costs, while six months profits were flat at 1.1 billion rupees, an official said. Lanka IOC managing director R Ramakrishnan said his firm was losing […]
Sri Lanka central bank puts curbs on forex market
Oct 06, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’ central bank has tightened limits on overnight trading positions of commercial banks, imposed penal interest rates on exporter financing and raised deposit limits on import letters of credit, officials said. The rules were last used in 2001 when Sri Lanka floated the rupee following currency crisis created by […]
Sri Lanka bond auction rates spike over 100bp
Oct 31, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s bond yields spiked than 100 basis points and secondary market yields more than 100 basis points at this week’s auction. On Thursday the central bank broke a US dollar peg at 108.00 rupees and is now defending a new rate of 110.00 rupees. The 2-year bond yield shot […]
Sri Lanka shares sustain gains
Oct 30, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lankan shares ended higher for the second day running with brokers saying the rise on larger trading volumes may indicate improved investor sentiment and that the slide may have bottomed out. LIOC ended up 3.41 percent or 0.75 rupees at 22.75 rupees with 233,000 shares changing hands. To receive […]
Sri Lanka central bank to buy back short term bills
Oct 30, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank has announced auctions to buy back six billion rupees of short term bills at market rates, while overnight liquidity injection volumes were at 21 billion rupees.The Central Bank Thursday offered to buy 2.0 billion rupees of 70-day bills, 2.0 billion rupees of 77 day bills and […]
Sri Lanka central bank to allow dollar peg to move
Oct 30, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s central bank said it was allowing ‘greater flexibility’ in foreign exchange markets signaling a depreciation in the rupee that can break a dangerous sterilized intervention cycle in forex markets and bring stability back to the monetary system. In the meantime, in order to ensure the financial market stability, […]
Sri Lanka forex markets search for direction after announcement
Oct 30, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s forex markets and debt ran out of quotes as dealers searched for direction after the central bank said it was breaking a peg with the US dollar at 108.00 following prolonged intervention lasting over seven weeks.“We are not yet quoting a rate,” a dealer told LBO soon after […]