Financial Times

Brokers, CSE to visit Middle East, Hong Kong
A joint team representing the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and the stockbrokers will visit the Middle East next January. "A trip to Dubai and Abu Dhabi is taking place on January 15," said Asanga Seneviratne, head of the Stockbrokers Association.

"We are targeting Sri Lankans living in the Middle East and the Sri Lankan fund managers," he said, adding there are a lot of opportunities for the lower income groups such as domestic workers to access the stock market through fund managers who have set up unit trusts.

"The lower income groups can approach these managers and invest their money in unit trusts, and the managers in turn will invest their funds in the stock market," he explained. He added since lower income groups have limited knowledge about the stock market, stock analysts do not recommend them to enter the market without professional guidance.

The team also hopes to visit Hong Kong. "Hong Kong was the biggest contributor to Sri Lanka in the early nineties and WI Carr, Indosuez, Jarding Fleming and Lehman Brothers bought equity in local stockbrokering firms," he said, adding Hong Kong is a major hub for Asian investment.

He said inflation is a key problem that will affect the stock market. "It is primarily because of the high oil prices," he said. "The oil prices are declining now, but it will not trickle down to the consumers," he said. He cautioned that if the interest rates go up to double digits, it would impact the stock market negatively. He said brokering companies must look out to diversify in order to overcome this difficulty.

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