Friday, June 8, 2012

Sri Lanka bourse up on bargain hunting; rupee steady

* Worries over weak rupee, rising interest rate weigh

* Institutional investors buy blue chips


* Rupee flat amid dull trade-dealers

COLOMBO, June 8 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan stocks edged up on Friday for a second straight gain as institutional investors sought blue-chip firms such as National Development Bank and the island nation's fourth largest lender Sampath Bank, stockbrokers said.

The main index gained 0.86 percent, or 40.72 points, to 4,798.70.

National Development Bank and Sampath Bank rose 2.7 percent and 1.7 percent respectively.
But analysts said trade was thin as investors remain concerned over the global economic outlook.

Turnover was 309.3 million rupees, well below the daily average of 968.7 million rupees this year.

The rupee ended flat at 130.35/45 against the dollar in dull trade as importer dollar demand was offset by the exporter sales of greenback, dealers said.

($1 = 130.2500 Sri Lanka rupees) (Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Ed Lane)

source - in.reuters.com

No comments: