Thursday, January 31, 2013

Sri Lanka bourse slips on foreign selling, profit-taking

Jan 31 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's shares extended falls for the second day on Thursday as retail investors booked profits in large-caps amid foreign selling, while the rupee ended firmer on inflows into government bonds.

The main share index fell 0.15 percent, or 9.01 points, to end at 5,816.89.

Foreign investors sold a net 292.3 million rupees ($2.31 million) worth of shares, extending the net foreign outflow to 1.32 billion rupees so far this year.

"The market came down on profit-taking in large-caps and many investors were on the sidelines awaiting for the direction with the foreign selling," a stockbroker said on condition of anonymity.

Shares in Ceylon Tobacco Co Plc fell 1.75 percent to 840 rupees, while Carson Cumberbatch Plc ended 3.1 percent weaker on profit-taking.

The day's turnover was 3.42 billion rupees, well above the daily average of 1.22 billion so far this year.

The rupee edged up to 126.25/40 to the dollar from Wednesday's close of 126.48/55, on dollar inflows into government securities, traders said. ($1 = 126.4500 Sri Lanka rupees) (Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Anand Basu)

source - www.reuters.com

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