General
Sri Lanka extends deadline to restructure EPF debt to Aug 28
ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka shares close down on Friday on profit taking and selling interest due to constant gains in the previous sessions, an analyst said.
The main All Share Price Index was down 0.46 percent or 53.83 points to 11,596.16, this is the lowest the market in six sessions and the lowest the market has been since August 03, while S&P SL20 was down 0.81 percent or 28.03 points to 3,420.56.
Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe has said debt restructuring is matter involving public finances coming under parliament and not courts, and has called opposition groups not to disrupt the process through legal action, a statement said.
“Public finance belongs to parliament,” President Wickremesinghe was quoted as saying at a forum of coconut farmers on Friday.
“This plan has already been approved by parliament. This process will only be halted on the instructions of parliament. We cannot take orders or instructions from anyone else.”
“So, I am telling smaller parties not to create un-necessary problems.”
“There is spread in the market; investors are investing in the capital sector, blue chip companies, banking and diversified financials and tourism counters,” the analyst said.
The market generated a turnover of 3.1 billion rupees, majority of the revenue came in from the Food, Beverage & Tobacco Industry bringing 1.1 billion rupees, capital goods contributing 519 million rupees and the yearly average stands at 1.9 billion rupees.
“There is an assumption that earnings reports will be favorable, channeling continuous interest in the market,” an analyst said.
Losers during trade were Senkadagala Finance, Commercial Bank and John Keells Holdings.
The market saw a net foreign inflow of 74 million rupees, while the yearly net foreign inflow was 5.2 billion rupees. (Colombo/Aug10/2023)
