Action-packed day at stock market with news of Tilak Karunaratne return as SEC Chief

Friday, 23 January 2015 00:07 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Colombo stock market witnessed what a broking firm described as an “action-packed day” with indices tumbling sharply before ending with a face-saving gain for the new Government after it announced the reappointment of Tilak Karunaratne as the new Chairman of the SEC. When the market opened yesterday it started to dip sharply, losing almost 100 points by afternoon. However, surprisingly in the last hour before trading closed, it crawled back to finish with a five-point gain. Play on select index heavy stocks helped the gain whilst others said bargain hunters lifted the index.

Market reactions to the return of Karunaratne as the Head of the Securities and Exchange Commission were mixed with some welcoming it and others raising concerns of over regulation. “The Colombo Bourse witnessed an action-packed day amid the speculation of changes in top position in the SEC and the unexpected reduction in fuel prices by 22% ahead of the announced schedule,” Lanka Securities said. “In the morning hours ASI declined by 93.32 points or -1.3% and recovered back to gain 5.19 index points or 0.07%,” it added. Price advancements in counters such as Ceylon Tobacco (up +2.1%), Bukit Darah (up +4.3%) and Lanka IOC (up 7.8%) supported the index performance. “There was panic selling in the morning with the announcement of the new SEC Chairman. But it recovered later in the day, though there is no concrete buying yet,” Reuters quoted Dimantha Mathew, research manager at First Capital Equities Ltd. as saying. Reuters also said though shares ended slightly higher concerns over political stability weighed on sentiment as investors awaited the new Government’s interim budget scheduled for next week. Reuters said the main stock index fell 1.37% to a one-month low of 7,223.92 in early trade, a day after the Government reappointed Thilak Karunaratne as head of the market regulator and said he would investigate suspected deals in the stock market. Karunaratne has been tasked with investigating past stock market deals suspected to involve corruption. As per a Reuters report, stockbrokers said Karunaratne’s appointment and the investigations would pull down the index in the near term, but would instill confidence over the long term. “Most of the uncertainty will be settled after the budget next week,” Karunaratne told Reuters, adding he would not be “on a witch hunt”, while the investigations into alleged corrupt deals would go through. Daily market turnover crossed the Rs. 1-billion mark after four trading session and reached Rs. 1.2 billion. John Keells Holdings topped the turnover list with Rs. 192 million followed by Hatton National Bank (Rs. 149 million) and Commercial Bank (Rs. 132 million). Out of 245 counters traded 105 declined, 93 increased and 47 closed without a change. Eleven equities dropped to a 52-week low price. Foreign investors continued to be net buyers for the second consecutive day with a net inflow of Rs. 87 million.

CSE named ‘Most Sustainable Growth Exchange’ in Asia for 2014

Officials of the Colombo Stock Exchange with the award for the ‘Most Sustainable Growth Exchange in Asia – 2014’ awarded by Capital Finance International (from left): Chief Operations Officer Renuke Wijayawardhane, CEO Rajeeva Bandaranaike, Chairman Vajira Kulatilaka and Chief Information Officer Chandrakanth Jayasinghe The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) has been named the ‘Most Sustainable Growth Exchange’ in Asia for 2014 by Capital Finance International (CFI), a print journal and online resource reporting on business, economics and finance, based in the United Kingdom. The CSE was nominated and shortlisted for the Award based on voting by CFI readers, subscribers and contributors, who include the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO) and Fidelity Investments. Following the nomination and shortlisting the CSE was evaluated against a series of stringent criteria set out by CFI. The criteria included market leadership, innovation, customer satisfaction, financial performance, implementation of technology, client service, added value advisory, risk management, transparency, compliance, corporate governance, quality of communications and strength of nominations. According to the CFI Awards Panel, ‘The aim of our Exchanges’ and Brokers Awards program is to identify service providers (regardless of size) that truly deliver excellence: “We set out to provide our readers – and hopefully a far wider audience – with a resource to help them identify exchanges and brokerages they should consider when making investment and corporate decisions.” This is the first time an international award of this nature has been awarded to the CSE, in its 30-year history. This international exposure is likely to attract a greater wealth of foreign investors, building on the momentum gained through the ‘Invest Sri Lanka – Investor Forums’ held globally. “We are very pleased with this international recognition and believe that it will be a further impetus to our efforts in attracting foreign investors to the market. As a frontier market we are making great strides forward and this is being observed by prominent institutional investors. This was evident in our performance in 2014 where the CSE achieved the highest recorded foreign purchases in its history,” said CSE Chairman Vajira Kulatilaka. “As an Exchange we are continuously striving towards becoming a world class organisation, which exceeds the expectations of all our stakeholders. We have streamlined our processes to international standards; having achieved ISO certifications in the areas of information security, business continuity and information services. Similarly our cutting edge technology provides all industry participants with a trading platform that is multifunctional, secure and accessible. Our efforts towards ensuring sustained growth, for both listed companies and investors, has been duly recognised by this award,” said CSE CEO Rajeeva Bandaranaike.

Ajith Dias new SriLankan Airlines Chairman

Business leader Ajith Dias has been appointed the new Chairman of SriLankan Airlines, replacing Nishantha Wickremasinghe who stepped down recently following the defeat of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Hailing from the apparel industry and co-founder of Brandix Ltd., Dias is also Chairman of Barista Coffee Lanka.

He also has interests in leisure, retail and trading as well as agriculture Dias is a Chartered Textile Technologist and a Fellow Member of the Textile Institute, UK. He is the Chairman of Jewelex Trading Ltd. and is well-respected and admired in the apparel industry. He was a past Chairman of the Joint Apparel Associations Forum (JAAF), which is the apex body of all textile and apparel associations, a member of the Textile Quota Board and a past Chairman of the Free Trade Zone Manufacturers Association. He served at the Board of Brandix Lanka Ltd. and was instrumental in the establishment of Jewelknit Ltd., a merger of Phoenix and Jewelknit which resulted in the formation of Brandix Lanka Ltd. Dias champions the Garments without Guilt global campaign to ensure ethical apparel manufacturing and sourcing in Sri Lanka which was well received by the global apparel industry, partner buyers, international media and international consumers at large. Although his main focus is still on the apparel industry, Dias has widened his horizons by investing in the world-renowned coffee house franchise ‘Barista’ and has established Barista Lanka. His involvement has extended to tourism, leisure, retail and trading as well as agriculture.