IPOs in electronic form

NEWS ALERT: All 2011 IPOs will be electronic, if u got share CERTIFICATES, need to lodge them

1. All IPOs from Jan 2011 will be in electronic form and no share certificates to be issued.
2. All those holding paper share certificates of currently listed Co's will have to deposit them @ CDS before END 2011.-

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) has directed the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and Central Depository Systems (Pvt) Ltd (CDS) to mandate the lodging of securities certificates pertaining to all listed securities at the CDS and thereby implement a system of full dematerialisation of all listed securities at the CDS.

The term full dematerialisation refers to the process of converting physical securities certificates of listed securities to a scripless (paperless) or electronic form by way of lodging the respective physical securities certificates into the respective CDS accounts of shareholders.
At present around 60% of shares are lodged in the CDS and the balance remain in certificate form.
The SEC has directed the CSE/CDS to implement the above process in the following manner.
To mandate securities of new listings to be in dematerialised form (electronic) form with effective from 1 January 2011
All applicants for IPO’s which open for subscription on or after 1.1.2011 must therefore open a CDS account and indicate their respective CDS account numbers in the IPO application form. The Company Secretary/Registrar would not issue securities certificates to the applicants who do not have valid CDS accounts.
To mandate securities of all existing listed companies which have obtained a listed status before 1 January 2011 to be in dematerialised form within a transitional period of one year from 1 January 2011.

BFL Bairaha to build new state-of-the-art chicken farm

Thursday, 16 December 2010 13:04 Feizal Samath

Sri Lanka’s Bairaha Farms is setting up a state-of-the-art broiler (chicken) farm on 48 acres at Anamaduwa in the Puttalam district, the company announced on Thursday.

The farm will be created in line with international farms and standards. “The size of each poultry house will be much bigger, and the specifications of these buildings will be technically more advanced to enable us to maintain outstanding hygiene and cleanliness than possible with farms currently operating in Sri Lanka,” Yakooth Naleem, Bairaha Managing Director said in the statement.
In a filing at the Colombo Stock Exchange, Bairaha – a pioneer chicken producer – said it signed an agreement with the Board of Investment (BOI) to give effect to this proposal.

The project, to be set-up under a new company subsidiary called Nature’s Best Industry Ltd, will enjoy a 10-year tax holiday from the first year of making profits.
The expected investment in the first year is Rs 120 million with the total, additional investment in the second and third year being Rs 240 million.

“We expect this will increase our commercial broiler production by 20 % in the first year, 20 % in the second year and 15 % in the third year,” Mr Naleem said in the statement. The first batch of chickens from this farm will be ready by April/May 2011.

LLUB 4 dividends per annum

DIVIDEND ANNOUNCEMENT - LLUB

15-Dec-2010  DIVIDEND ANNOUNCEMENT - LLUB  

CHEVRON LUBRICANTS LANKA PLC
Company ID: - LLUB
Date of Announcement:-15.Dec.2010
Rate of Dividend: - Rs.3 per share fourth Interim Dividend
Financial Year: - 2010
XD:-27-Dec-2010
Payment: - 05.Jan.2011
Share Transfer Book Open

Sri Lanka Laugfs IPO

Laugfs group, the second firm that make up the duopoly in Sri Lanka's gas business is going public to raise 2.5 billion rupees by offering 75 million ordinary voting shares at 23 rupees a share, and 52 million ordinary non-voting shares at 15 rupees each.

Steep Discount?

Capital Alliance, joint placement managers for the issue say the firm has a trailing price to earnings multiple of 15 times, and a forward P/E of 8.5 times.

Laugfs group, of which financial accounts end in March made a profit of 229.3 million rupees in 2009, while in the following year its bottom line rocketed 130.4 percent to 528.3 million.

For the first four months ending July 31, the firm has made a profit of 262.3 million rupees.

Capital Alliance is projecting a one billion rupee bottom line by March 2011.

In 2010 group revenues were almost 5.6 billion rupees, up 23 percent from the corresponding period last year.

In 2009, Laugfs group made a profit of 94 cents per share, 2.03 rupees in March 2010, and till July 2010 made an annualized profit of 3.03 rupees per share.

By March 210, Laugfs group assets were down 3.85 percent to almost six billion rupees.

"The valuations were done very conservatively," Deshan Pushparajah, corporate finance manager at Capital Alliance said this at a Luagfs IPO presentation recently.

Pushparajah says the Laugfs Group based on EV (Enterprise Value)/ EBIDTA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization), usually done at mergers and takeovers is worth 39.83 rupees per ordinary share, while non-voting shares are valued at 27.88 rupees.

EV factors in debt and cash stock into valuations.

Capital Alliance values the group at over 77 million dollars, while Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka (MBSL), the lead managers to the issue gives a market cap of 75 million dollars.

EV/EBIDTA multiples are sometimes criticized by analysts for ignoring profitability, which can push up valuation multiples of companies that have lower net margins.

Pushparajah is benchmarking the industry average EV/EBIDTA multiple on US based Amerigas Partners, Suburban Propane Partners and Ferrell Gas Partners at an average P/E of 10.5 times.

An analysis using a developed market as a benchmark may not reflect a true valuation.

For an example a 10 percent interest rate may not stir a hornets' nest in Sri Lanka, but will create quite a stir in developed western markets like the US, EU and UK.

Hijaz Suhair, assistant manager at MBSL says the IPO share price was valued taking the downside into consideration.

The price was calculated to attract the big corporate and high net worth investors who look for capital gains after a couple of years, Suhair said.

Group Structure

The group has four main sub-business units which consist, liquid petroleum gas retail, property development, gas emission testing and leisure.

Laugfs key gas business will be a benefactor with Sri Lanka's per capita income rising and more consumers switching to gas cylinders for their home cooking needs, Pushparajah, said.

By March 31, 2010, Laugfs key gas business contributes 93.5 percent to revenue and 99.2 percent to group profits.

Laufgs to date lays claim to 30 percent share of the domestic cooking gas cylinder market, 60 percent of industrial gas and 90 percent of auto gas.

Achilles Heel

The group's gas business will have high organic growth, but sustaining growth in a politically risk inclined business will be challenging mid to long term, an analyst from FRANDS Consultancy said

About 45 percent of the firm's gas is sourced from state owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation at world market rates (Ceylon Petroleum Corporation), while the rest is imported at spot rates.

Laugfs Gas saves 25 to 30 percent in freight and insurance costs from buying nearly half of its needs locally, and is blessed with a guaranteed 30 percent mark up on imported gas, thanks to a court ruling.

Independent analyst say Laugfs Gas has an Achilles heel.

"The court order and costs savings from locally sourced gas has helped Laugfs sell gas cheaper (than Shell Gas) and maintain margins," independent analyst said.

"However the chink in Laugfs armour will be exposed if the court order is reversed or if the new state gas company buys the CPC gas for its own need."

Earlier this month the government in a media release said it plans to wrap up the purchase of multinational energy company Royal-Dutch Shell's Sri Lankan gas unit within a month.

The government is paying 63 million US dollars for a 51 percent stake in Shell Gas Lanka in which it already owns 49 percent and for a 100 percent stake in a storage terminal company.

Monopoly Blues

W K H Wegapitiya, chairman of Laugfs Gas in an exclusive interview on LBR said said after his company was beaten by the state in a deal to acquire the local unit of Shell Gas, has now set eyes on managing the new state owned gas company.

Wegapitiya's proposal, if inked to a deal by the government will monopolize the Sri Lankan gas market. Monopoly's hurt consumers, as a single seller with no competition that can up prices and sacrifice quality with no one to challenge.

Monopolies are against free market principals of many players in a single market.

The government granted a five year monopoly to the Anglo Dutch gas firm Shell which ended in 2001 when Laugfs stepped in as the only local rival.

The 37 US dollar investment by Shell was used to build a port delivery terminal and boost distribution network which was in tatters in 1995.

Sri Lanka suffered frequent shortages of gas and new cylinders were not available to prospective new customers when gas distribution was a government monopoly.

"If a foreign company can hold and own a monopoly why can't a local company?" questioned Wegapitiya.

Shell had had running battles with the state over pricing until the island's Supreme Court ruled that gas should be re-priced bi-monthly on a price formula.

The offer is opening for subscription on November 04, 2010.   

September interim results

Bairaha Farms Ltd (BFL) has posted attractive interim results for the September quarter with a revenue figure of LKR 599.8mn which is a YoY increase of 16%. Their Gross Profit margin is at 27% in comparison to 17% last year. The EBIT margin has risen to 22% from 7.8% last year and Net profit margin has accelerated to 19% from 4.8% which is mainly due to the significant decrease in finance cost, in our view.


ODEL Limited (ODEL) has also seen an exciting quarter with revenue climbing ~ 50% YoY to  KR 836.2mn. Gross Profit margins have also strengthened from 36.15% to 38.5% during the period. ODEL has posted a net profit of LKR 63.6mn, up 18% YoY.

Historical day in CSE Oct 13 - 2010

The market saw a major slide during today’s morning session owing to panic selling and this resulted in the ASPI shedding more than 250 points. The CSE imposeding halt on all stocks for a 30minutes till 10.59 a.m. as the MPI fell more than 5%. However the bourse took a ‘U’ turn and headed towards North once the trading halt was lifted, and ended the day in the green. The benchmark ASPI jumped 94.81 points (1.45%) to close at 6628.83 points while the MPI climbed 47.13 points (0.66%) to close at 7166.88 points.  

Price gainers dominated the market with 117 stocks seeing price hikes and 94 seeing price falls.

Unit Trust Sri Lanka

UNIT TRUST MANAGEMENT COMPANIES IN SRI LANKA


Background to the Unit Trust Industry

The Unit Trusts commenced operations in Sri Lanka during the year 1991 and in the following year, three more management companies were licensed to operate, and each of them launched Balanced Funds, to provide income and growth by investing in equity and fixed income securities. As a result, during the lean years of the Stock Market from 1994 to 2001, the performance of Unit Trusts suffered along with the decline in the overall share market. During the period 1996-1997, six new funds were formed to offer diversity of investment schemes. This enabled formation of growth funds and investment into Government securities and the debt market thereby introducing Gilt Edged Funds and Income Funds.

Currently, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka has licensed five management companies to operate thirteen open ended Funds. They comprise of four Balanced Funds, three Growth Funds, three Income Funds, one Gilt Edged Fund, one Money Market Fund and one Index Fund. Fund Investors comprise both Institutional and retail investors. However, the Institutional investors hold a majority of the units issued whilst among the unitholders majority of them are individual unit holders.

The Unit Trust Association of Srilanka (UTA) is an apex body of licensed unit trust management companies in Srilanka. The UTA was formed in 1992 to facilitate and promote investor awareness and express unit trust industry perspectives in related matters. It also functions as self governing body and contributes development of good practices and represents on any grievances of the industry to create an equitable platform for all member companies.

Related websites
Unit Trust Association of Sri Lanka : www.unittrust.lk
http://www.sec.gov.lk/UT_Companies.html 

7th October 2010

The ASPI moved down by 91.93 points (1.34%) and closed at 6770.74 while the MPI also   recorded a decline of 108.02 points(1.44%) and closed at 7412.94.

Price losers out numbered the gainers with 174 counters recording losses while only 27 counters recorded gains.

Sri Lankan stocks running hot on local capital: brokers

Sri Lanka markets 18 month bull-run, driven nearly 85 percent on local liquidity will soon run out of steam if foreign investors don't join the action, a senior official at Bartleet Mallory Stockbrokers said.

"The way the figures are, about 80 percent is a local driven market," Eraj Wijesinghe, chairman of Bartleet Mallory Stockbrokers (BMS) said.

"We just can't go on the foreign funds need to coming in, foreign investors coming in for us to get into the international arena."

BMS last week struck a strategic partnership with Religare, an Indian based asset management company which bought a 50 percent share for over 10 million dollars.

The bourse, once a sleepy index is now the toast of the region, second only to the Mongolian Index as the world's best performing market.

However despite the euphoria and high fives at the end of another record breaking day is still flying below the radar of foreign investors.

Year to date there was a net foreign outflow of 14.7 billion rupees.

State controlled pension funds who shunned on investing equities just over two years ago are now the big investors. They already have controlling or near controlling stakes on several leading commercial banks and blue chip stocks.

Analysts say the market is now showing signs of slowing down.

On Monday, Sri Lankan stocks in early morning trade on Monday passed 7,000 points mark for the first time in history, but could lost momentum due to investors cashing-in to cover margin trades, brokers said.

"There is a possibility the market will slowdown in the coming weeks due to new regulations on credit effective from January next year, while some investors took profits," Thakshila Hulangamuwa, vice president at Asha Phillip Securities told LBR.

"Due to a lack of participation we won't see turnover levels improving from the current range of four to five billion rupees."

Market watchdog the Securities & Exchange Commission effective from January 01, 2011, has banned all stock brokering firms granting credit to customers in fear of possible systemic risk in future.

Sysmatic risks arise when stock brokering firms default on transaction settlements.

The current trade settlement system is based on T (time) 3 or times plus three where transaction have to be settled within three working days.

This allows day traders to buy and sell securities for millions of rupees on credit, if the brokering firm is willing to take the credit risk.

--Riyad RiffaiLBR,Monday 27 September 2010

Bartleet TransCapital entered into alliance with global financial services giant Religare Enterprises Limited (REL)

Colombo, Monday, 15th September 2010: Sri Lanka’s hi-octane stock market will reach new horizons
with the entry of the global financial services giant Religare Enterprises Limited (REL) in a milestone
strategic alliance announced today with Bartleet TransCapital.
The New Delhi-headquartered Religare Group (www.religare.in) which serves over a million clients
including corporates, institutions, high net worth families and individuals and retail investors in Asia,
Africa, the Middle East, Europe and the Americas, plans to establish its footprint in Sri Lanka initially in
stock broking by taking a 50 per cent stake in Bartleet Mallory Stockbrokers (BMS), the announcement
said. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval.
Bartleet Mallory Stockbrokers (www.bartleetstock.com) which is fully-owned by Bartleet TransCapital
(www.bartleettranscapital.com), has decided to increase its share capital to accommodate Religare
Enterprises.
The partnership will bring in best practices in non-banking financial services including broking operations
to the Sri Lankan market and leverage Bartleet’s established brand reputation, client relationships and
market leading stock broking presence in Sri Lanka to attract more international investors to the Colombo
Stock Exchange and to facilitate an extension of services to regional markets such as Bangladesh,
Maldives and Pakistan, Bartleet TransCapital Chairman and former Central Bank Governor Deshamanya
A S Jayawardena said.
It will also result in Colombo being integrated into Religare’s global network of investment banking
centres across emerging markets and London and bring to the attention of international fund managers the
increasing opportunities in well-managed Sri Lankan companies.
For Religare, the tie-up represents a significant addition to its emerging market pan Asian vision and
takes forward the Religare strategy of creating an emerging markets investment banking and stock
broking leader.
Commenting on the partnership, Religare Group CEO Shachindra Nath said: “With the upsurge in
economic and capital markets indicators over the last one year, Sri Lanka is a key market for Religare,
especially considering its proximity both physically and culturally to India. We are delighted to bring
such an impressive team into the Religare fold that would add considerable depth to our South Asia
investment banking and stock broking business.”
“Consistent with our view that high-growth developing markets represent an overwhelming opportunity
in terms of business flows, we are quickly positioning ourselves to provide the advice and distribution
capability that our global investor and corporate client base will require. Bartleet absolutely stands out for
its reputation and trustworthiness in the Sri Lankan financial sector.”
Eraj Wijesinghe, Chairman of the Bartleet Group added: “The post-conflict resurgence of Sri Lanka has
sparked new interest in business opportunities here. In this context, integrating Bartleet Mallory
Stockbrokers’ presence and reach in Sri Lanka in delivering results for clients with Religare’s scale and
ambition makes perfect sense. As a team we’re excited to become part of Religare’s carefully-conceived
vision to create a pan-emerging markets fully-integrated financial services group with a focus on
investment banking and to give our client base access to the wealth of opportunities that provides.”
The Religare Group employs more than 10,000 people across multiple geographies. In India, Religare’s
largest market, the group offers a wide array of products and services ranging from insurance, asset
management, broking and lending solutions to investment banking and wealth management. The group
also pioneered the concept of investments in alternative asset classes such as arts and films.
Bartleet TransCapital encompasses the non-banking financial services companies in the Bartleet Group
led by Eraj Wijesinghe, a former Chairman of the Colombo Stock Exchange. Bartleet TransCapital has
interests in stock broking, financial services, independent investment advisory, equity research, online
trading, life insurance advisory and Asset Management. Bartleet Mallory Stock Brokers (Pvt) Limited
was established in 1989 and is one of the pioneering members of Colombo Stock Exchange. The
company has a wide retail base with a large number of registered CDS accounts. It is ranked among the
top few stock broking firms in Sri Lanka by market share and has a well spread network across the island.

How Sri lanka stock market works?

Please visit Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) web site at http://www.cse.lk. It gives most of the information that one need to know to enter into Stock Market. From your wording it looks like you are not in Sri Lanka.
It is good to read the section at Getting Started --> Foreign Investment in Shares.

Basically there are more than 230 companies divided into 20 different sectors. Investing in CSE stocks is investing (buying shares) in one of the 230 odd companies. There is only one equity fund listed in CSE.

You can read most of the information (quarterly financial reports, Annual reports, major announcements) about each company via CSE web site
Trading is open from 09:30 to 14:30 hrs. (Local time) from Monday to Friday except on public and Bank holidays.
Each investor has to register with one of the broker companies. There are more than 15 broker companies that allow to trade via Internet where ever you are. You can register with more than one company and is free as at this day. Few companies use versatile more informative programs to interact with CSE. To my knowledge Asia Securities (Pvt) Ltd. http://www.asiacapital.lk and Asha Phillip Securities (Pvt) Ltd. http://www.ashaphillip.net facilitate to trade using DirectFM (you can read more in the Internet) client program to trade. You can do your technical analysis at any time of the day. Many other broker firms use a client program called CDAX and some of them have web base trading facility too.

Each trade will cost you about 1.02% as various taxes and commissions. As at these days CSE have introduced a new rule where each company share price can only vary 10% from the previous day closing price.

Good luck.

Advice from vpwvpw
for a question ask by sunny in investnow.lk

MPI & ASPI passed 6000 points

During the holiday shortened week the All Share Price Index (ASPI) increased 142.92 points to close at a new all time high of 6023.41 points, while the Milanka Price Index (MPI) also increased by 211.50 points to a new high of 6278.31 points. The daily average turnover was SLRs.4.3bn compared to SLRs.3bn last week and the week ended with foreign buying amounting to SLRs.1.9bn whilst foreign selling was SLRs.4.4bn.


The week started off on a negative note with both indices recording losses on Monday.
However the market picked up towards the end of the week with both the ASPI
& MPI recording gains on Wednesday & Thursday. Both the MPI & ASPI passed
6000 points on Thursday. The ASPI recorded an increase of 60.79points (1.02%)
WoW to close at 6023.41 points. The liquid MPI also jumped 125.38points (2.04%)
WoW to close at 6066.81points.



The market will continue its upsurge at a more moderate phase in the coming week, despite possible profit taking by investors on counters which have reported unprecedented growth in price in the recent week.

Share index rose to a new record

Sri Lanka shares hit new peak amid new SEC rule

Sept 1 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's benchmark share index rose to a new record on Wednesday, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ordered listed companies to immediately disclose related party transactions.

Institutional and foreign investors have long clamoured for prompter disclosure of insider dealings, amid complaints of manipulation. Previously, related-party transactions were only only required disclosure in annual reports.

According to the ruling issued after trading closed on Wednesday, immediate disclosure is required for any related-party transaction which exceeds 10 percent of equity or 5 percent of total corporate assets.

ODEL breaks records in CSE

ODEL.N0000 reocrds more than 12,000 trades and more than 30% increase in a day today (2010 Aug 4th)!!


ODEL LIMITED (“THE COMPANY”) – LKR 250.5 MILLION worth ordinary shares of the above company was listed today (on 4th August 2010) on the Diri Savi Board of the CSE and
classified under the Footwear and Textile Sector.

The assigned security code is ODEL-N-0000. A total number of 144,950,000 ordinary shares of the company was listed. Deposits would be
accepted by the Central Depository Systems (Pvt) Ltd (“CDS”) with immediate effect.


ODEL shares rocketed up to Rs. 38.50 in its first day of trading before setting back to a sober Rs. 35.40 at the time this article was published. Almost 13 million shares were traded in more than 10,000 trades. Prices opened at Rs. 15 this morning in what was a much anticipated IPO by one of the leading clothing retailers/ department stores in the country.



Founded 20 years ago, the ODEL chain of definitive fashion and lifestyle stores now comprises of 12 outlets at Alexandra Place, Kohuwala, Mount Lavinia, Moratuwa, Panadura, Maharagama, Nugegoda (Warehouse), Dickman's Road, Ja-ela, Majestic City, Crescat (Backstage) and at the Bandaranaike International Airport. ODEL's 13th store opens at Battaramulla , 16th July.

THE PROCEDURE FOR A FOREIGNER TO INVEST IN SRI LANKA’S CAPITAL MARKET

Sri Lanka has one of the most liberal capital markets in the region. The Sri Lankan Rupee is fully convertible on the current account (trade in goods and services). Foreign direct investments and portfolio investments are also freely convertible. The government has declared capital account convertibility as a longer term policy.

Foreign Investment is open to the following category of Investors

Country Funds and Regional Funds, Private Funds

Approval must be obtained by the Ministry of Finance. This takes a few days and is usually a formality.

1. Companies Incorporated outside Sri Lanka
2. Individuals Residing outside Sri Lanka.
3. Criteria for Approval of Country Funds

Credits to the Account
Inward Remittance

Sale Proceeds
Dividend Proceeds
Proceeds received through other Corporate Actions

Debits to the Account
Funding a Purchase
Repatriation of Sale Proceeds
Repatriation of Dividend proceeds and other proceeds received via Corporate Actions


All debits and credits should be channeled through SIERA. Any remittance from SIERA out of Sri Lanka will be permitted on producing to the commercial bank at which the respective account is held documentary evidence of the transaction giving rise to the remittance (dividend warrant, contract note).Whilst a tax clearance certificate from the Department of Inland Revenue is not required for remittances in respect of transactions related to listed companies, it is required in respect of unlisted companies confirming that all taxes attributable to the respective transactions have been duly discharged. This process is fairly routine in view of the deduction of withholding tax at source.

In September 1991, the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) introduced a new computerized book entry clearing and settlement system operated by the Central Depository System (Pvt.) Limited, (CDS) a wholly owned subsidiary of the CSE. As at the end of June 1992, all companies listed on the Exchange were registered in the CDS. The CDS has nominee status for all shares deposited with it. However, it does not provide nominee services such as entitlement distribution or proxy services. The CDS, instead provides a listing of beneficial shareholders to each listed company as at record date to enable the company to forward dividends, rights, bonus, annual reports and proxies directly to the beneficial shareholders or their respective custodians. Investors who wish to trade in shares should open an account with the CDS. This aspect is handled by the brokering firms and normally takes one day.

Ownership Regulation
Foreign investors are allowed to invest up to 100% of the issued capital of most of the listed companies in the Colombo Stock Exchange. The following are the exceptions.
Shipping and Plantation companies 40%.

Foreigners are permitted to hold 100% of shares in insurance companies.
Companies with restrictive provisions : These are few companies that restrict non-national participation beyond a certain limit, through a restrictive provision in their Articles of Association.
Banks :- Foreigners can hold 60% of a Bank.

Colombo Stock Exchange record high in 01 Feb 2010

The All-Share Price Index of the Colombo Stock Exchange jumped near 1.70 percent to hit a fresh record high of near 3700 points, surpassing its previous all-time high of 3610.74, hit on Tuesday. It closed 1.25 percent up at 3636.41 points.

The market opened with negative sentiment and fell 1.94 percent as some investors who had expected a regime change after the election sold their stakes in thin trade, dealers said.

However, retail investors chipped into the bourse and started buying shares across the board on hopes of political stability and unchanged economic policies after Rajapaksa's re-election.

Sub-sector indices of hotels and travels, banking, finance, and insurance, manufacturing, and trading hit new peaks during the trading as investors were bullish on returns in the bourse across the board.

Sri Lankan shares CSE hit fresh record high on Monday

Sri Lanka stocks at fresh peak after doubling in 2009, led by local investor-buying of blue chips in the first trading day of the year, after being one of the world's best performing bourse in 2009.

The All-Share Price Index .CSE of the Colombo Stock Exchange climbed to 3,490.56 points by midday, surpassing its previous peak of 3,390.31 hit on Dec. 30. It closed 96.09 points or 2.84 percent firmer at a record closing high of 3,481.64.

"Investors are expecting a boom in the market this year," said Harsha Fernando, CEO at SC Securities in Colombo.

The bourse was closed on Friday for a special new year holiday and Monday is the first trading day in 2010.

Sri Lanka's stock exchange was one of the world's best performing markets in 2009, jumping 125.2 percent on optimism that the end of the country's long civil war in May would bring in a flood of badly needed foreign investment.

It has outpaced the benchmark emerging market equities index .MSCIEF, which rose 74.8 percent in 2009.

Low interest rates and slowing inflation have also fuelled foreign investor interest.

Source - COLOMBO, Jan 4 (Reuters)