BRS morning shout

12 - March - 2020

Economic news Links

Sri Lanka stocks rebounded 1.61 percent Wednesday recouping some of the losses from a https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-stocks-
record 4.14 percent plunge a day earlier which left the benchmark at an eight year low. The rebound-1-61-pct-from-8-year-low-57323/
AASP) closed 82.61 points higher at 5,204.52 and the S&P SL20 index gained 53.01 points to
end at 2,414.76.
Sri Lanka’s Securities and Exchange Commission has sought proposals from stock brokers for https://economynext.com/sri-lankas-sec-
proposals to boost the markets as the benchmark index plunged to an eight year low amid a seeks-proposals-to-boost-stock-market-
Coronavirus scare. 57403/
The 364-day bill weighted average yield increased by 2 basis points at its weekly auction held http://www.ft.lk/financial-services/364-day-
yesterday, reversing its downward movement witnessed over the past two weeks. bill-Weighted-Average-increases-
marginally/42-697338
The Government will ink an agreement today with Japan’s Taisei Corporation to build a multi- http://www.ft.lk/front-page/Govt-to-ink-564-
level terminal building at the Bandaranaike International Airport with the contract to cost USD m-BIA-expansion-deal-with-Taisei-Corp-
564mn. today/44-697359

Business news
Sri Lanka is halting on-arrival visa for tourists until further notice, in a new Coronavirus control https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-halts-on-
measures, the state information office said after the first domestic transmission of the virus arrival-visa-for-tourists-57384/
was reported yesterday.

Sri Lanka’s Consumer Affairs Authority has been instructed probe a racket to push up domes- https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-to-probe-
tic maize prices just as the harvests are due to come to the market. domestic-maize-collector-racket-57380/

Softlogic Capital Markets yesterday said the Colombo Stock Exchange, having lost 16% year-to http://www.ft.lk/front-page/Softlogic-Capital-
-date, still offers a significant valuation upside. Also adding that the plunge in oil prices could says-CSE-offers-significant-valuation-
save Sri Lanka USD 1bn. upside/44-697363

Sri Lanka’s central bank has unveiled a regulatory sandbox to run innovative fintech experi- https://economynext.com/sri-lanka-
ments through a commercial bank or a financial institution, which can be released to the mar- regulatory-sandbox-open-for-fintech-
ket after testing and gaining approval. experiments-central-bank-57399/

Construction industry stakeholders yesterday appealed to the Government to pay an esti- http://www.ft.lk/top-story/Cash-starved-
mated Rs. 400 billion owing to hundreds of companies, many of them Small and Medium En- construction-industry-appeals-for-Govt-
terprises, and suspend deducting liquidated damages from overextended projects to assist the support/26-697358
cash-starved sector.

Political news
Former MP Harsha De Silva is saying that the government can take advantage of historically https://economynext.com/govt-can-use-
low interest rates to take the required loans to repay the country’s debts through the Active active-liability-management-act-to-borrow-
Liability Management Act. harsha-57225/
Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa will contest the upcoming Parliamentary General Election https://economynext.com/mr-to-contest-
from his adopted constituency of Kurunegala the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) con- from-kurunegala-no-leader-named-for-
firmed yesterday. polonnaruwa-57332/

International news
U.S. stock index futures tumbled on Thursday and were close to hitting their daily down limit https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-
after President Donald Trump’s speech outlining the administration’s response to the coro- stocks/u-s-stock-futures-tumble-as-trumps-
navirus epidemic disappointed investors. virus-response-disappoints-idUSKBN20Z0CM
Oil prices slumped by 6% on Thursday amid a broader market rout after the United States https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-
banned travel from Europe following a declaration that the coronavirus outbreak is now a oil/oil-slumps-6-as-u-s-bans-travel-from-
pandemic. europe-over-coronavirus-pandemic-
idUSKBN20Z06D
The World Health Organisation called the new coronavirus outbreak a pandemic on Wednes- https://www.asiaone.com/world/who-labels-
day (March 11), issuing a grim warning that the global spread and severity of the illness was coronavirus-pandemic-europe-scrambles-
due to "alarming levels of inaction". contain-it

The dollar careened against the euro and yen on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-global-
rattled markets with a month-long ban on European travel to the United States. The dollar fell forex/dollar-slides-after-trump-bans-travel-
1% to 103.32 yen and 0.5% to $1.1328 against the euro. The safe haven Swiss franc rose 0.6%. from-europe-to-fight-virus-idUSKBN20Z015
The Australian dollar fell 0.4% to $0.6580.

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BRS morning shout
12 - March - 2020

Market Indices Forex market

Year Year Bid-Ask
Current Previous Day's % YTD % Buying Selling YTD %
open open Spread

ASPI 5,204.52 5,121.91 6,129.21 1.61% -15.09% USD 180.65 184.33 183.15 2.0% 0.6%

S&P SL 20 2,405.80 2,361.75 2,936.96 1.87% -18.09% EUR 203.18 210.04 206.74 3.3% 1.6%

GBP 232.03 239.23 244.27 3.0% -2.1%

JPY 1.71 1.77 1.70 3.4% 4.2%

Commodity Prices Market Rates

Year
Current Previous Day's % YTD % Current Week ago Year open Yearly %
open

Gold (USD/Ounce) 1,637.20 1,657.40 1,522.90 1.2% 8.8%

182 day T bill 7.99 8.06 8.02 -0.4%
Copper (USD/Pound) 2.46 2.53 2.82 3.1% -10.2%
364 day T bill 8.46 8.58 8.45 0.1%
Aluminium (USD/MT) 1,674.85 1,697.15 1,810.00 1.3% -6.2%
AWPR 9.38 9.47 9.74 -3.7%
Crude Oil (USD/Barrel) 31.23 35.32 61.24 13.1% -42.3%
AWLR 13.47 13.47 13.65 -1.3%
Cotton (US ȼ/Pound) 60.90 61.60 68.95 1.1% -10.7%
AWDR 8.06 8.06 8.20 -1.7%
Sugar (US ȼ/Pound) 12.24 12.60 13.44 2.9% -6.3%

Palm Oil (USD/MT) 565.68 565.68 730.56 0.0% -22.6% AWFDR 9.83 9.83 10.05 -2.2%

CBSL holdings in govt securities (LKR bn)

Year
Current Previous YTD %
open

Market liquidity - Surplus/(Deficit) (LKR bn) 35.71 38.57 36.69 -5.1%

CBSL holdings in govt securities (LKR bn) 78.01 78.01 74.74 4.4%

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