Business
Possible policy rate cut has energizing impact on shares
By Hiran H.Senewiratne
The CSE yesterday showed a positive performance for two major reasons. One was Cabinet approval for the exchange of new bonds for defaulted sovereign bonds and the second was the decision for policy rates to be cut, market analysts said.
Deputy Minister of Economic Development Anil Jayantha said at the Cabinet meeting, that there was approval for the proposal on exchanging bonds, which was part of the external debt restructuring exercise and IMF recommendations.
Further, market analysts also said that policy rates are likely to be cut at today’s Central Bank policy review meeting.
Amid those developments both indices moved upwards. The All- Share Price Index went up by 118.6 points while the S and P SL20 rose by 67.4 points.
Turnover stood at Rs 1.1 billion with two crossings. Those crossings were reported in Commercial Bank, which crossed 500,000 shares to the tune of Rs 61.75 billion; its shares traded at Rs 123.50 and Lankem Developments 1.17 million shares crossed for Rs 21.3 million; its shares traded at Rs 18.20.
In the retail market companies that contributed to the turnover were; Sampath Bank Rs 131.5 million (1.4 million shares traded), JKH Rs 108.5 million (1.5 million shares traded), Hemas Holdings Rs 83.1 million (1 million shares traded), Access Engineering Rs 40 million (1.4 million shares traded) Commercial Bank Rs 34.1 million (280,000 shares traded) and NTB Rs 32.7 million (219,000 shares traded). During the day 40.8 million share volumes changed hands in 12000 transactions.
It is said that the banking and finance sector was the biggest contributor to the turnover, especially with Sampath Bank and Commercial Bank, while the manufacturing sector was the second largest contributor to the turnover, especially JKH and Hemas Holdings.
Yesterday, the rupee opened stronger at Rs 291.00/15 to the US dollar from Rs 291.25/35 to the US dollar the previous day, dealers said, while bond yields were down.
A bond maturing on 15.12.2027 was quoted at 10.85/90 percent.
A bond maturing on 15.03.2028 was quoted at 11.07/15 percent.
A bond maturing on 15.10.2028 was quoted at 11.15/20 percent.
A bond maturing on 15.09.2029 was quoted at 11.30/40 percent, down from 11.35/50 percent.
Ceylinco Life’s Ambalantota branch agent AIP Manjula has been named one of three global finalists for the prestigious Insurance Agent of the Year award at the 11th Asia Trusted Life Agents & Advisers Awards (ATLAA) 2026.
The recognition places a Sri Lankan insurance professional among the finalists in a regional field spanning South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia and the wider Asia-Pacific region.
Ceylinco Life said the achievement reflected the calibre and customer-focused approach of its agency force, while recognising Manjula’s professionalism and commitment to policyholders.
The award evaluates insurance agents on criteria extending beyond sales performance, including ethical conduct, client service, policy persistency, digital adoption, innovative practices and contributions to the insurance industry and community.
The awards are organised by Asia Advisers Network and Asia Insurance Review, with LIMRA as co-organiser. An independent judging and balloting process is monitored by KPMG as the official scrutineer. The judging panel comprises senior insurance executives, association presidents and industry experts from across the Asia-Pacific region.
CEAT Kelani Holdings (CKH) has retained its National Long-Term Rating of ‘AA+(lka)’ with a Stable Outlook from Fitch Ratings for the sixth consecutive year, reflecting the company’s financial resilience and leading position in Sri Lanka’s pneumatic tyre market.
The ‘AA+(lka)’ rating, the second-highest on Fitch’s national scale, indicates a very strong capacity to meet financial commitments.
Fitch said CKH’s established market leadership and resilient financial profile remained key strengths, while noting its exposure to price-sensitive, cyclical and highly competitive markets.
The Stable Outlook reflects expectations that the company will maintain its market position despite rising input costs and increasing competition from imported tyres, while preserving adequate credit metrics during periods of weaker earnings and higher investment.
Fitch expects CKH’s established brand, extensive dealer network and adaptive pricing strategies to support its market position. Planned production facility upgrades are also expected to improve product quality, particularly in the radial tyre segment.
The rating agency expects near-term pressure on margins from higher raw material and energy costs but said the company’s low leverage and sound liquidity would provide a cushion.
CKH Chairman Chanaka De Silva said the rating reinforced the company’s focus on disciplined financial management, operational adaptability and long-term investment.
SLT-MOBITEL Enterprise, the enterprise services arm of Sri Lanka Telecom PLC, has launched its Premium Cloud service powered by Nutanix, aimed at helping Sri Lankan businesses modernise their IT infrastructure and accelerate digital transformation.
The service was unveiled at the Lanka Tech Summit 2026 held recently at ITC Ratnadipa, Colombo.
The Premium Cloud combines hybrid multi-cloud capabilities with enterprise-grade performance, enabling businesses to run mission-critical workloads, scale cloud deployments and strengthen business continuity through disaster recovery capabilities.
Hosted on SLT-MOBITEL’s Tier III data centre infrastructure, the platform is designed to provide enhanced security, reliability and flexibility while supporting the growing technology requirements of enterprises.
SLT-MOBITEL Enterprise said the platform would also support organisations seeking to adopt AI-ready capabilities and improve the management and performance of IT workloads.
A key feature of the launch was SLT-MOBITEL Enterprise joining the Nutanix Elevate Service Provider Program (NESPP), which the company said made it the first service provider in the region to join the programme.
Powered by Nutanix’s hybrid multicloud platform, the service enables application and data mobility across on-premises environments, public clouds and edge locations.
The company said the partnership combined Nutanix’s cloud technology with SLT-MOBITEL’s local expertise and support, strengthening its multi-cloud portfolio.
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