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Friday, July 15, 2011

Sri Lanka bourse at 1-wk high on diversified shares; rupee up

* Bourse up for second session; Keells leads gain

* Foreign inflow at 153.2 million rupees
* Rupee up; cbank lowers dlr trading band by 10 cents

COLOMBO, July 15 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's stock market gained on Friday to a one-week closing high led by market heavyweight John Keells Holdings as investors bought up beaten shares in market hovering near oversold.

The main share index gained 0.91 percent or 61.36 points to 6,777.03, highest since July 8. It fell 3.6 percent in the first two sessions this week to hit a six-month low before recovering in thin volumes.

The market's 14-day relative strength index gained to 36.4 from an oversold 30 in the previous session, Thomson Reuters data showed. Sri Lanka's largest conglomerate John Keells Holdings jumped 6.7 percent on Friday as the share has been oversold in the last three sessions, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Since June 1, the index has shed 8.26 percent, mainly due to forced selling in line with the policy of Sri Lanka's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to recover margin debt, aiming to eliminate all credit dealing by year's end.

The bourse is still up 2.13 percent so far this year. It was the top performer in the Asia-Pacific region in 2010 and 2009 with 96 percent and 125 percent returns, respectively.

The day's turnover was 1.96 billion Sri Lanka rupees ($17.9 million), below the last year's average of 2.4 billion and this year's daily average of 2.77 billion.

Foreign investors were net buyers of 153.2 million rupees on Friday, but they have sold 7.14 billion rupees in 2011 after a record outflow of 26.4 billion in 2010.

Traded volume was 85.1 million, lowest since July 7, against a five-day average of 95.9 million. The 30-day and 90-day average trading volumes were 167.8 million and 105.2 million,respectively. Last year's daily average was 67.9 million.

The rupee ended firmer at 109.49/50 a dollar from Wednesday's close of 109.58/60 as central bank lowered the dollar trading band by 10 cents to 108.90/109.50 from 109.00/60, dealers said.

The markets were closed on Thursday for a Buddhist religious holiday.

FACTORS TO WATCH:

- June quarter earnings of listed firms

- If foreign investors will buy shares in large volumes.

- The extent of the rupee's appreciation.

source - www.reuters.com