Business
Net foreign purchases of JKH stocks become highlight of CSE trading
By Hiran H.Senewiratne
CSE trading was characterized by a degree of dullness but foreign investor participation reached a satisfactory level, garnering a net foreign inflow of more than Rs 3 billion a- year- to- date, yesterday. Net foreign purchases for JKH stocks became notable during the last few days, stock market analysts said.
Stepped-up foreign investor participation in Sri Lanka’s stock trading was due to the rupee devaluation against the US dollar. In that context, local valuable stocks/ blue chip shares are cheap when compared to stocks in the region, analysts said.
However, investors are worried over domestic debt restructuring issues, these analysts added.
Amid those developments both indices moved downwards. The All- Share Price Index went down by 23.89 points and S and P SL20 went down by 0.54 points. Turnover stood at Rs 1.4 billion with three crossings. Those crossings were reported in JKH, which crossed 710,000 shares to the tune of Rs 101.9 million, its shares traded at Rs 143.50, Lanka Wall Tiles 1.9 million shares crossed to the tune of Rs 99.9 million, its shares traded at Rs 53, Nations Trust Bank 351,000 shares crossed for Rs 20 million; its shares fetched Rs 57.
In the retail market top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were, Softlogic Life Insurance Rs 186 million (1.4 million shares traded), Aitken Spence Rs 159 million (one million shares traded), TJ Lanka Rs 116 million (3.3 million shares traded), JKH Rs 106 million (702000 shares traded), Softlogic Capital Rs 78.4 million (4.8 million shares traded), Lanka IOC Rs 65 million (339,000 shares traded) and Expolanka Holdings Rs 57.2 million (310,000 shares traded). During the day 40.28 million share volumes changed hands in 13000 share transactions.
Sri Lanka still needs adequate assurances from other bilateral creditors for its program to be approved, especially China, the IMF said, after Paris Club lenders said they will restructure debt.
“We welcome the recent statement by the Paris Club to provide financing assurances to Sri Lanka following the assurances provided by India, an IMF spokesperson said.
“Sri Lanka continues to engage with official bilateral creditors to obtain financing assurances and also continues to advance domestic reforms. If the IMF bail- out is finalized the investor sentiment will improve, especially that of foreign investors, market analysts said.Yesterday, the Central Bank’s US dollar buying rate against the rupee was Rs 359,07 and the selling rate Rs 370.24
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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