Friday, 29 August 2014 00:52
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The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC), in association with the Sri Lankan Embassy in Washington DC, will host its first ‘Invest Sri Lanka – Investor Forum’ in North America on 4 September in New York City. Bloomberg and the American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) Sri Lanka are the strategic partners.
The forum, which will feature over 200 participants, including 150 major US institutional investors who manage assets over $ 100 million, will be held at the J.W. Marriot Essex House Hotel.
The highest number of Sri Lankan listed companies, in comparison to previous forums will participate at the event. The listed companies set to participate are John Keells Holdings PLC, Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC, Hatton National Bank PLC, National Development Bank PLC, DFCC Bank, Hayleys PLC, Access Engineering PLC, People’s Leasing & Finance PLC, Hemas Holdings PLC, Softlogic Holdings PLC, Tokyo Cement Company (Lanka) PLC, LAUGFS Holdings PLC, Sunshine Holdings PLC and MTD Walkers PLC.
Senior Minister for International Monetary Cooperation and Deputy Minister of Finance and Planning Dr. Sarath Amunugama and Governor of the Central Bank Ajith Nivard Cabraal will make principal presentations.
Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations in New York Dr. Palitha Kohona will deliver the opening address at the Forum, while Chairman of the Colombo Stock Exchange Vajira Kulatilleka will speak on the capital market of Sri Lanka.
As an endorsement of the Sri Lankan capital market and the investment experience in Sri Lanka, a series of well-reputed investment professionals will enlighten the participants on the ‘Sri Lankan experience’. Morgan Stanley Investment Management Head of Emerging Markets Ruchir Sharma, TPG Capital Senior Advisor Michael O’Hanlon and Bloomberg FX Application Specialist Stephen Jonathan will speak at the event and give their insights.
The presentations will be followed by a panel discussion with Dr. Amunugama, Cabraal, Chairman of the SEC Dr. Nalaka Godahewa and Kulatilaka.
The preliminary sessions will be followed by a series of meetings, which will provide participants the opportunity to have one-on-one or small group discussions with Sri Lankan listed companies to gain a better understanding of these companies.
“This is the first instance the ‘Invest Sri Lanka – Investor Forum’ will be held in North America and we see it as an ideal time to do so. Thus far in 2014 we have foreign holdings of Rs. 87.4 b from the United States in the Sri Lankan capital market. This figure is likely to grow as more investors begin to see Sri Lanka as a viable and steady Frontier Market moving towards the status of an Emerging Market,” Dr. Godahewa said.
“The Exchange has had a steady growth in the past few months crossing a number of performance indicators, which include highest turnover and the main index (ASPI) crossing the 7,000 mark. It is clear that the market is on a positive trajectory and we expect a period of exponential growth. Furthermore, with a number of new companies listing, we are positive that we will be able to offer investors a variety of choice when diversifying their portfolios and selecting their investment options,” Kulatilaka said.
This is the third ‘Invest Sri Lanka – Investor Forum’ for the year, with previous Forums being held in Singapore and London in January and May respectively.
Bourse reboundsReuters: Stocks edged up on Thursday, hovering near a three-year high, led by conglomerate John Keells Holdings Plc in low volume trade with foreign investors buying into risky assets, brokers said.
The main stock index ended 0.1%, or 6.85 points up at 6,991.76, near its highest close since 18 August 2011 hit on Tuesday.
Analysts said an increase in speculative trading in fundamentally weak shares could dent the healthy growth the index has seen this year.
The index has gained 18.25% so far this year.
“The market is slightly over heated that’s why we are seeing it stagnate at these levels around 7000 points for a while till the next earnings season,” said Dimantha Mathew, Manager, Research, at First Capital Equities. “There is no major reason for the index to come down.”
Analysts said the market is struggling to rise above a psychological barrier of 7,000 points which has turned it to a technical barrier now.
The Bourse has been trading in an overbought region since July and on Thursday the Relative Strength Index was at 72.573 points, above its upper neutral region of 70, Thomson Reuters data showed.
Market heavyweight John Keells Holdings Plc, which led the overall gain in the index, rose 1.59% to Rs. 248.90, while Lanka IOC Plc rose 3.41% to Rs. 42.40.
Shares in Distillers Sri Lanka Plc rose 0.70% to Rs. 209.
Thursday’s turnover stood at Rs. 887.2 million ($ 6.82 million), well below this year’s daily average of Rs. 1.2 billion.
Foreign investors were net buyers of Rs. 102.7 million worth of shares on Thursday, extending the year-to-date net foreign inflow to Rs. 8.1 billion.
The Central Bank rejected all 91-day Treasury bill bids for the second straight week at an auction, while yields on the 182-day and 364-day Treasury bills held steady at a weekly auction on Wednesday.
