Russian-Ukrainian crisis likely to affect multiple sectors in Sri Lanka

By Hiran H.Senewiratne

The effect on the CSE from the Russia-Ukraine crisis still cannot be commented on. But the CSE performed well yesterday to a satisfactory level even with the current external and internal uncertainties, CSE’s Head of Marketing Niroshan Wijesundera said.

“Since Ukrainian and Russian delegations will likely meet on the border between Ukraine and Belarus for peace talks, it will create some hope on this situation. If not it will affect many sectors, such as tourism, oil and gas, plantation sectors, such as tea and many more sectors, Wijesundera told the Island Financial Review.

He said that yesterday CSE produced a strong rebound with indices gaining but the bourse could be negatively impacted it if the tense situation continues. It is said that the US $ one billion Indian loan for Sri Lanka created a positive sentiment in spite of insufficient efforts to revive the situation.

Amid those developments, the CSE market started its trading on a positive note but did not continue that momentum. However, in the latter part of the day huge buying interest was noted in Expolanka Holdings, which automatically turned the market towards positive territory. As a result, indices at the CSE recorded significant gains yesterday with the All -Share Price Index increasing by 470.04 points (4.23 per cent) to 11577.94, while the S and P SL20 increased by 204.40 points (5.46 per cent) to 3946.73. Turnover stood at Rs 4.3 billion sans a single crossing.

In the retail market, the top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were, Expolanka Holdings Rs one billion (3.7 million shares traded), Browns Investments Rs 330 million (27.5 million shares traded), LOLC Finance Rs 281 million (2.2 million shares traded), Commercial Leasing and Finance Rs 262 million (5.5 million shares traded), LOLC Finance Rs 213 million (225,000 shares traded), Royal Ceramic Rs 211 million (3.6 million shares traded) and Softlogic Life Insurance Rs 147 million (1.4 million shares traded). During the day 212 million share volumes changed hands in 41000 transactions.

It is said High net worth and institutional investor participation was noted in Commercial Bank, Access Engineering and Sampath Bank. Mixed interest was observed in Expolanka Holdings, Commercial Leasing & Finance and LOLC Holdings, while retail interest was noted in Browns Investments, LOLC Finance and SMB Leasing. During the day Expolanka, which experienced heavy buying interest, contributed 67 points to the All- Share Price Index, while LOLC Finance contributed 54 points.

Yesterday, the US dollar was quoted at Rs 201.05, which was the controlled price of the Central Bank. The actual rate in the floating market would be more than Rs 250 per dollar. However, Sri Lanka’s rupee has sharply appreciated to Rs 2.36 to the Russian ruble from Rs 2.66 earlier in the week.