Market falls as foreign investor withdraws

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 May 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Colombo stock market fell by 18.8 points (2.6%) today, from 718.80 to 700.00 points, following the withdrawal of a major foreign investor. The Colombo stock market's Sensitive index also fell from 1197.20 to 1082.80 points.

The foreign investor who pulled from the Colombo stock market had invested 2 billion Sri Lankan Rupees (31.75 million US $) in Blue Chip companies, said market sources.

Some analysts, however, attributed the fall to the general decline of the Asian economies.

Others said that the fall in the Colombo stock market was due to a similar fall in the Bombay and Karachchi stock markets that followed the imposition of sanctions after India's nuclear tests. They added that the possibility of India not being granted a 800 million US$ World Bank loan had also impacted on the markets.

Another analyst said that fifty multi national investors, including Jardin Fleming, Morgan Stanley and Capital Investment, who had previously invested up to 60% of their funds in Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan markets were now pulling out or were no longer investing in the South Asian region.