Markets

Bourse ends benchmark year

It was an encouraging year end week with positive indices all through the week.

ASPI gained 78 points to end at 6635.87 up by 1.18 percent. Milanka added 76 points to rise by 1.09 percent and closed at 7061.46.

Nearly all sector indices recorded an increase week on week.

Aggregate value of turnover was Rs 6.5 billion down by 8 percent of earlier week’s value of Rs 7.1 billion. The average daily turnover for the week was Rs 1.30 billion vis a vis Rs 1.77 billion last week while the share volumes escalated by 59 percent. Market Capitalization improved to Rs 2210 billion as against Rs 2184 billion in the previous week while the market P/E Ratio and PBV remained at 25.2 and three respectively.

Banking, Finance and Insurance dominated the turnover statistics with 26.96 percent share followed by Beverage, Food and Tobacco at 17.54 percent and Manufacturing at 16.48 percent.

Total Banking turnover for the week was at Rs 1.76 billion with major contribution from Commercial and HNB (Non Voting). Distilleries, Bairaha Farms and Three Acres Farms added to the Beverage, Food and Tobacco while Manufacturing sector was supported by Grain Elevators.

Banking, Finance and Insurance at 54.54 percent was also the foremost contributor to the market volumes with SMB Leasing both voting and non voting and Amana Takaful Insurance being the major contributing counters. Total volumes marked in the sector were at 208 million shares.

Dialog sustained the Telecom sector with 14.67 percent share in volumes with nearly 56 million shares. Several crossings in Dialog placed the scrip at the top turnover chart for the week with 10.14 percent of the total turnover at Rs 664 million.

Commercial Bank was second in place with 7.27 percent share adding Rs 475.83 million to weekly turnover with the share closing at Rs 260.9. Distilleries added 5.31 percent to the total turnover with Rs 347.8 million and nearly 2 million shares.

Dialog remained the most traded stock with volumes of 55.4 million. SMB Leasing both voting and non voting traded 42.6 million and 38.85 million shares respectively.

The selling pressure of foreigners continued in this week with net selling at Rs 297.43 million. The foreign activities became less attractive during the week with a dip of 26.4 percent and 40.4 percent of foreign purchase and foreign sales against last week. The average foreign purchases were recorded at Rs 205.14 million as against Rs 278.83 million last week while average sales were accounted at Rs 264.63 million as compared to Rs 443.93 million last week.

Malwatte (Non Voting) emerged as the top gainer of the bourse with the scrip closing at Rs 62.50 recording an increase of 37.06 percent from last week. Agalawtte and Kahawatte followed highlighting a growth of 26.51 percent and 24.44 percent over last week. Agalawatte and Kahawatte contributed turnover of Rs 30.7 million and Rs 22.4 million respectively.

Parquet appeared as the major loser of the week, scrip closing at Rs 21.1 showing a dip of 27.24 percent over previous week. Confifi Hotel and Blue Diomands were other loses in the bourse slipping the price by 12.93 percent and 12.82 percent respectively.

The year to date return of the Colombo bourse remains at 96.01 percent making it Asia’s best performing stock exchange for 2010. It being a benchmark year with peak index of 7147.8 in early October. Key sectors at bourse showed a robust growth highlighting an upward movement in all sector indices. MPI also indicated YOY increase of 83.42 percent.

Aggregate market turnover and volumes reflected growth of 299 percent and 277 percent respectively. Market P/E at 25.2 as against 16.55 in 2009. During the year nine new listings were made with total market cap of Rs 6.2 billion.

In the ensuing week the bourse commences its activity following new set of guidelines.

Backed with retail participation as witnessed towards year end, sound earnings potential, estimated 75 new IPOs in the coming year and with the positive macro economic outlook, infrastructure developments, favourable fiscal and monetary policies we expect the bourse to remain a lucrative investment hub.

ICASL revalidates position in Sri Lanka

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (ICASL) has recorded an impressive student registration of 8,000 for 2010, securing a phenomenal growth of an active student base of 36,000 students.

Currently, the institute has almost 4,000 members and nearly 35,000 registered students. Our sister institute, Association of Accounting Technicians has around another 30,000 students.

ICASL President Sujeewa Mudalige, said they have a responsibility to future generations to help shape both our profession and this great Institute, so that those who follow us will benefit in the same way that we do today.

“I can still remember very clearly why I decided to train as a Chartered Accountant. It was because I believed that the profession represented the best possible start to a career in business.

Our qualification attracts the best and the brightest, and must continue to do so. This year alone we will be registering in excess of 8,000 new students,” he said.

According to Mudalige, the institute attracts the best students from the commerce and non-commerce streams and recruits a very high calibre of students to its institute.

The ICASL syllabus was revised from 2010, in its efforts to keep abreast with changing global patterns and offer its students the best qualification, making the Institute’s qualification on par with globally recognized qualifications in the accountancy sphere. Our training is one of the ingredients that differentiate us from the rest.

The basics of business and ethical values are instilled in our students from the very beginning by virtue of our requirement for practically based training to become a member.

The ICASL curriculum comprises of Certificate in Accounting and Business (CAB), Diploma in Accounting and Business (DAB) and Associate Chartered Accountant (ACA).

The Institute has also established fully equipped regional knowledge centres across the country covering Kandy, Matara, Anuradhapura, Kurunegala, Ratnapura and Jaffna, in its strive towards encouraging students from rural areas to join the Institute and make career headways in the accountancy field.

ICASL Chief Executive Officer Aruna Alwis, emphasized that the diverse spread of the ICASL membership globally demonstrates that the ICASL is indeed in par with any other globally recognized accounting qualification.

“In our attempt to increase our outreach and encourage more students in the future to register with the ICASL, the Institute is also participating in leading educational fairs in the country. ICASL is also the Gold sponsor of EDEX, to be held in January 2011,” Alwis added.

Eligibility for registration at the ICASL requires three passes at the GCE Advanced Level examination.

Facebook, Twitter posts bring rewards:

‘Visit Sri Lanka’ online competition opens

The year 2011 has been officially declared as “Visit Sri Lanka year” and a target has been set to bring in 2.5 million tourists by the year 2016.

Following on from the global communication campaign launched by Sri Lanka Tourism to make this a reality, Jetwing Travels and Sri Lanka Tailormade will also be launching a Visit Sri Lanka 2011 - Post & Win competition which will be conducted online.

The competition will be in support of this and will utilize social media sites to engage users with the objective of creating awareness about Sri Lanka which is blessed with many natural attractions which are sure to impress even the most seasoned traveller.

This is an opportunity for every Sri Lankan or anyone with a love for the country to actively promote Sri Lanka in their own way to all their friends and colleagues, especially from overseas, so they will gain awareness of what Sri Lanka has to offer as a holiday destination.

The competition will be promoted across various communication channels including Facebook, Twitter and the corporate Jetwing websites as well as direct marketing, radio and print media. The official sponsors are Jetwing Travels, Hilton Colombo, Cinnamon Grand, Park Street Mews, Odel, Continental Hotel, Mount Lavinia Hotel and the Galle Face Hotel.

The competition will be held over a period of 3 weeks and focused on the Sri Lanka Tailormade Facebook fan page, where users will be asked to leave wall posts in answer to “why they think Sri Lanka is the best destination to travel to in 2011”.

The 2 entries with the highest number of “likes” will be selected at the end of every week to receive prizes ranging from a weekend stay for two at the renowned Jetwing Vil Uyana hotel, dinner vouchers from some of Colombo’s leading five star hotels and restaurants, Gift vouchers from Odel and a variety of other great prizes.

The NYT described Sri Lanka as a place where “Elephants roam freely, water buffaloes idle in paddy fields and monkeys swing from trees. And then there’s the pristine coastline.

The miles of sugary white sand flanked by bamboo groves that were off-limits to most visitors until recently...”