Colombo bourse marks history

On Sep 5, 2021

The All Share Price Index reached its all-time high of 9,335.9 points on Thursday and closed the week at 9,316.7amidst recording an impressive total turnover over Rs.59 Bn for the week (average weekly turnover of Rs.11.9 Bn). Further CSE’s market cap surpassed Rs.4.0 Tn for the first time in history. The enthusiastic local appetite on logistics, exports and other Dollar earning stocks drove the market throughout the week to reach its new highs whilst the All Share Price Index increased by 385.3 points (+4.3%WoW) to close at 9,316.7 whilst the S&P SL20 Index also increased by 142.0 points (+4.2%) to close the week at 3,497.1.

In a CSE announcement, LOLC Holdings PLC, with its robust Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises-based (MSMEs) business model, disclosed its plans on expanding the global footprint with three parallel investments in Tajikistan in Central Asia as well as to Malawi and Tanzania in East Africa. Further, Expolanka Holdings PLC made further inroads to Central America with the acquisition of a logistics specialists’ firm for $ 9.7 million (around Rs. 2 billion). The acquisition of IDEA Logistics LLC and its group of companies is via EFL Global Logistics Ltd. Singapore and EFL Global LLC, USA fully owned subsidiaries of Expolanka Holdings. Additionally, ICRA Lanka Limited rated Sri Lanka’s E B Creasy and Company ‘[SL]BBB’ with a stable outlook due to the steady position and improvements in Operation profits

On the economic front, the Central Bank of Sri Lanka announced that gross official reserves were strengthened by receiving USD 787 Mn from IMF’s SDR facility & a further USD 150 Mn from Bangladesh Central Bank as a swap arrangement & while a further RMB 2000 Mn (around USD 300 Mn) from China Development Bank is expected to be received in the near term. On the contrary, S&P downgraded Sri Lanka’s sovereign rating outlook to CCC+ negative from stable amidst default worries. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka’s health authorities confirmed that around eight million of its 30-years-and-older population has been fully vaccinated thus far against COVID-19.

It was announced that Sri Lanka’s ongoing COVID-19 lockdown was extended by a week to September 13.