Milanka to be discontinued on Jan 1

Vishmi Wijeratne

Sri Lanka's liquid price index, 'Milanka' price index will be discontinued on January 1, 2013 following the launch of the internationally recognised S&P SL20 index earlier this year.

The S&P SL20 is an initiative taken to provide the stock market higher status and will contribute to attract foreign investment to the capital market in the year's to come.

Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka chairman Nalaka Godahewa said the price index was presented in answer to many requests concerning international recognition of the previous price index.

"S&P Dow Jones Indices, a global leader in providing investable and benchmark indices to the financial markets together with the Colombo Stock Exchange launched the S7P SL20 which will follow a transparent and robust construction metholodgy," he said. S&P SL20 will form the foundation upon which products such as Exchange Trade Funds can be based on.

The elements of the S&P SL20 include, size as measured by float adjusted market capitalization, liquidity as measured by the last six month daily average turnover and the number of days traded, in addition to financial viability.