Sri Lankan shrs end near 3-wk closing high; turnover highest in over 6 yrs

Retail Holdings NV

15/09/2017 14:03

COLOMBO, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan shares rose for a 
second straight session on Friday and ended at a near three-week 
closing high, while a block deal in Singer Sri Lanka Plc 
 SINS.CM  pushed turnover to over a six-year high. 
    The Colombo stock index  .CSE  ended 0.32 percent firmer at 
6,402.03, its highest close since Aug.28.  
    The bourse rose 0.4 percent during the week, ending an 
eight-week long losing streak. 
    On Wednesday after market hours, diversified conglomerate 
Hayleys Plc  HAYL.CM  said it had agreed to purchase 61.73 
percent of Singer Sri Lanka Plc  SINS.CM  for 10.9 billion 
rupees from Retail Holdings (Sri Lanka) BV a subsidiary of 
Retail Holdings NV  RHDGF.PK .  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N1LU3R3 
    Hayleys in a corporate disclosure said on Friday that 
Hayleys Plc and its subsidiaries purchased 231.9 million shares 
or 61.73 percent of Singer Sri Lanka Plc at a price of 47 rupees 
per share. 
    Singer Sri Lanka saw foreign investor selling of 231.9 
million shares and ended 0.4 percent lower. It accounted for 
95.2 percent of the day's turnover of 11.4 billion rupees, the 
highest since March 16, 2011 and well above this year's daily 
average of around 921 million rupees. 
    Foreign investors net sold 10.8 billion rupees worth of 
shares on Friday, but they have been net buyers of 16.9 billion 
rupees worth of equities so far this year. 
    "We could see buying interest coming into the market after 
the Hayleys deal," said Dimantha Mathew, head of research, First 
Capital Holdings. 
    "It reactivated local investor confidence and the market is 
getting stronger day by day." 
    Shares of Commercial Bank of Ceylon Plc  COMB.CM  rose 1.6 
percent while conglomerate John Keells Holdings Plc  JKH.CM  
gained 0.7 percent and Lanka ORIX Leasing Company Plc  LOLC.CM  
closed 1.6 percent higher. 
    Hayleys Plc ended 0.04 percent lower. 
($1 = 152.9500 Sri Lankan rupees) 
 
 (Reporting by Ranga Sirilal; Editing by Vyas Mohan) 
 ((ranga.sirilal@thomsonreuters.com; +94-11-232-5540; Reuters 
Messaging: ranga.sirilal.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net; 
www.twitter.com/rangaba)) 
 
Keywords: SRI LANKA STOCKS/