Bourse draws highest-ever foreign inflows

Monday, 17 November 2014 00:40 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

In a year that has proved to be record-breaking, the Colombo Stock Exchange has reached yet another milestone in 2014 by recording its highest-ever inflow of foreign investment into the equity secondary market. Foreign purchases in 2014 as at 14 November was Rs. 95,083.8 million, surpassing the previous highest foreign purchases of Rs. 92,425.5 million recorded in 2010.

The CSE in association with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) initiated a strategy to attract foreign investors to the market over the past two years. The strategy to conduct road shows in overseas locations has been successful in attracting foreign institutional investors to invest in the Lankan capital market. These forums have generated wide interest amongst international fund managers and generated tangible results in the form of investments in equity and debt. “The market has been on an upward trajectory in the past year and this has been a steady progressive improvement. We believe that investors entering the market are being cautious and basing their decisions on the fundamentals of companies. Foreign investors therefore have confidence in the liquidity of their investments, this buoyancy is being reflected in the foreign inflow over the past months,” CSE Chairman Vajira Kulatilaka said. “The Capital Market Conference hosted in October of this year was a culmination of several overseas Investor Forums, over the past two years. It is evident from the institutional and high-net worth investors who visited Sri Lanka and met with listed companies, during the conference, that the Sri Lankan Capital Market is gaining attention and proving to be an attractive investment destination for those looking at emerging and frontier markets,” CSE CEO Rajeeva Bandaranaike said. The net foreign flow from each of the countries, where foreign investor forums were held, have shown a positive increase and new investors have been attracted to the market from each location.

New ATS version, CDS go live at CSE today

The Automated Trading System version 7.18 and the new Central Depository System of the Colombo Stock Exchange (VSE) will be implemented (‘go live’) with effect from today (17). The CSE said all carried forward orders remaining in the ATS as at end of trading on 14 November (Friday) will be purged and therefore will not be available in the upgraded ATS version 7.18. Broker firms have been requested to re-enter such orders into the ATS today. The pre-open will be extended up to 9:45 a.m. today.