Colombo shares up as political chaos continues 

Colombo shares were up at Monday’s start after retailers cashed in on their profits on Friday amidst Sri Lanka's political turmoil. 

The All Share Index (ASI) was up slightly by 0.2 per cent to stand at 6,104.41points by 10.35 am with S&P up by 0.31 per cent to stand at 3,218.25 points on a Rs. 304 million turnover. 

On Sunday, President Maithripala Sirisena issued an order to reconvene Parliament on November 14, when lawmakers will get the chance to hold a confidence vote on the nation’s former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa who has been named prime minister. This brought some clarity into a chaotic situation which was triggered when Mr. Sirisena on October 26 fired Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replace him with Rajapaksa, a popular and controversial former leader that he defeated in a 2015 election.

Analysts say that that given the current political crisis, the sudden increase of the stock market may be brief, while foreign investors may sell further despite them being net buyers for the first time in 15 market days with Rs.66.9 million on Friday. Friday foreign buying was at Rs. 837 million – mostly in HNB and Commercial bank and foreign selling was Rs770 million. 

Analysts also say that already the mafia of high net worth investors and their crony stockbrokers who mobilised political pressure during Mr. Rajapaksa’s presidency are flocking into the market. (DEC)