Stocks end at near 6-week high; rupee falls

Reuters: Sri Lankan shares rose for the fifth straight session on Thursday to end at a near six-week high on local buying, even as foreign investors continued exiting the island nation’s risky assets, while the rupee edged lower on importers’ dollar demand. 

The benchmark stock index ended 0.16% firmer at 5,387.36, its highest close since 3 May. It fell 0.24% last week and 10.99% this year so far. 

Thursday’s stock market turnover was Rs. 235.5 million ($1.33 million), less than this year’s daily average of about Rs. 524.5 million. Last year’s daily average was Rs. 834 million. 

Foreign investors sold a net Rs. 109.8 million worth of shares on Thursday, extending the year-to-date net foreign outflow to Rs. 5.85 billion. 

The rupee ended at 176.60/70 per dollar, compared with Wednesday’s close of 176.45/60, market sources said. 

Analysts expect the rupee to weaken further as money flows out of stocks and government securities. The rupee fell 0.03% last week but is up 3.39% for the year. Exporters had converted dollars as investors’ confidence stabilised after a $1 billion sovereign bond was repaid in mid-January. 

The rupee dropped 16% in 2018 and was one of the worst-performing currencies in Asia. 

Foreign investors sold a net Rs. 3.5 billion worth of government securities in the week ended 4 June, extending the island nation’s net foreign outflow to Rs. 21.9 billion so far this year, Central Bank data showed