Indices move up again

The indices at the Colombo Stock Exchange continued to move up with the ASPI gaining 34 points (+1.4%) to close at 2,463 while the MPI, which tracks the most liquid stocks, gained 54 points (+1.9%) to close at 2955.

Total turnover for Thursday was Rs 507 million mainly driven by interest in Distilleries (Rs 113.9 million), John Keells Holdings (Rs 112 million) and United Motors (Rs 85.9 million)

Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), the largest fixed-line operator in the country, which released its results for the 2nd quarter ending June 2008 reported a 168% increase in profits to Rs 1.5 billion while revenue grew 21% to Rs 11.8 billion.

The company has benefited from increased sales while its cost of sales had grown only 12% to Rs 5.9 billion.

This increased the company's gross margin by an additional Rs 1.4 billion which fed to the bottom-line. The company's earnings for the for the 6-months to June was Rs 3.2 billion while it made Rs 1.7 billion for the first quarter of 2008, giving it a total half year EPS of Rs 1.75 SLT closed the day at Rs 46.75