SEC Sri Lanka engages in interactive knowledge-sharing forum with University of Ruhuna

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Sri Lanka recently participated in the Capital Market Forum 2025, organized by the Department of Accountancy and the Department of Finance of the Faculty of Management and Finance at the University of Ruhuna, in collaboration with the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). This interactive knowledge-sharing forum aims to enhance financial literacy and promote capital market participation among undergraduates and academics.

A key highlight of the forum was the workshop on “Nurturing Future Investors: The Role of Capital Markets in Personal and Economic Growth,” which featured distinguished speakers, including Senior Professor Hareendra Dissabandara, Chairman of the SEC, and Tushara Jayaratne, Deputy Director General of the SEC.

Senior Professor Hareendra Dissabandara delivered a compelling lecture on the crucial role of capital markets in fostering economic development. He emphasized how capital markets facilitate efficient capital allocation and contribute to long-term economic stability. A key focus of his discussion was the significance of capital formation as a sustainable alternative to debt financing for government projects. He illustrated this by comparing the market capitalization of a leading Sri Lankan company with the costs of several major government initiatives.

Professor Dissabandara highlighted the historical reliance on borrowing for infrastructure development in Sri Lanka, leading to fiscal imbalances, high-interest burdens, and economic vulnerabilities. He underscored the importance of equity financing in business sustainability, emphasizing that an efficient financial market channels surplus funds from households, institutions, and foreign investors into businesses and government projects. He explained that for over 70 years, successive governments have relied on borrowing to fund infrastructure and development, causing fiscal imbalances, rising interest burdens, high taxation, and economic vulnerabilities. He also noted that corporate professionals often overlook the importance of equity financing for sustainable growth.

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St. Aloysius’ book Tier ‘B’ final spot

St. Aloysius’ College Galle registered a crushing 76 runs victory over Isipatana in the Under 19 Division I Tier ‘B’ limited overs tournament semi-final played at Surrey Village ground on Wednesday.

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Elon Musk could still secure £43bn payday despite Tesla shares collapse

Elon Musk is pushing for a greater stake in Tesla, warning that he might develop products outside of the company if his demands aren't met.

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Fairfirst Insurance continues to sponsor MCA ‘F’ Division Cricket

Fairfirst Insurance Limited for the seventh successive year has come forward to support the Mercantile Cricket Association (MCA), as the sponsor to the MCA “F” Division 25-Over League Tournament 2025, contested for the Fairfirst Insurance Trophy.

The tournament has attracted 25 teams, which were pooled into four groups as follows.

Group “A” (06 teams):

Unilever SL, EB Creasy, HNB “B” , Union Bank, Empire Tea and Seylan Bank “B”.

Group “B” (07 teams):

David Pieris Group of Companies “B”, Cargills Bank , Commercial Bank of Ceylon “B”, Camera LK, VS Information Systems, Standard Chartered Bank and Ansell Lanka.

Group “C” (05 teams) :

Ranpath Group, Sitrex Group, Astron Limited, Siam Cement and English Tea Shop

Group “D” (07 teams) :

Softlogic Life Insurance, MAS Active, Atire (Pvt) Ltd., Pizza Hut, Ansell Textile, Dialog Axiata and Emerchemie NB.

The Tournament Structure:

The tournament is conducted in two stages; the “league” stage, consisting 67 half day matches and the “knock- out” stage, consisting 15 matches, including the final.

The league stage which commenced on February 25 will conclude on March 30.

The “Knock-out” stage and the pre quarter-finals will be played on April 5 and 6. The quarter finals are scheduled for April 19 and 20. The semi-finals will be held on April 26 and 27. The final is scheduled for May 3.

The official sponsorship handing over ceremony was held on March 7, at the MCA Legends Wing, where the Chief Executive Officer, Fairfirst Insurance Limited, Sandeep Gopal, handed over the sponsorship package to MCA President, Mahesh De Alwis. Also present at the occasion were Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Ravishankar Wickneswaran, and Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Dhilan Mitchell (both from Fairfirst Insurance). General Secretary, Rohan Somawansa, and Chairman Sponsorship Committee Hasitha Dassanayake (both from MCA).

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Bourse continues on sluggish course as investor participation slumps

By Hiran H.Senewiratne

Stock market activities were extremely dull yesterday and investor participation had also come down significantly due to the lack of clarity in the country’s future economic trajectory, market analysts said.

Amid those developments both indices moved downwards. The All Share Price Index went down by 114 points, while the S and P SL20 declined by 29.6 points. Turnover stood at Rs 824 million sans any crossings.

In the retail market top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were; Sampath Bank Rs 55.5 million (461,000 shares traded), NTB Rs 53.1 million (267,000 shares traded), Union Assurance Rs 47.1 million (708,000 shares traded), HNB Rs 34.9 million (111,000 shares traded), Browns Investments Rs 34 million (4.3 million shares traded), CIC Holdings Rs 26.5 million (229,000 shares traded) and Central Finance Rs 26.4 million (134,000 shares traded). During the day 29.5 million share volumes changed hands in 10000 transactions.

It is said that the banking sector led the market and was the main contributor for the turnover, while the manufacturing sector, mainly CIC Holdings, was the second largest contributor to the market.

Yesterday the rupee was quoted at Rs 295.30/55 to the US dollar in the spot market, from 295.40/50 Friday, dealers said, while bond yields were broadly steady.

A bond maturing on 15.09.2027 was quoted at 9.42/47 percent, down from 9.43/48 percent. A bond maturing on 15.03.2028 was quoted at 10.00/05 percent. A bond maturing on 01.07.2028 was quoted at 10.20/28 percent, down from 10.20/25 percent. A bond maturing on 15.10.2028 was quoted at 10.36/40 percent.

The Central Bank announced a Treasury bill auction of Rs 165.5 billion on Tuesday, and a Treasury bond auction of Rs 75 billion on Wednesday.

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Elon Musk claims Ukraine behind 'massive cyberattack' on X after outages

X CEO Elon Musk claimed that the social media site was under a "massive cyberattack" amid widespread outages as users struggled to access the platform

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Kandy march on with big 39-20 win against CR

By Special Sports Correspondent

Kandy Sports Club marched on in the ongoing domestic league rugby season with a smashing 39 points to 20 win over CR&FC in a key ‘Cup Championship’ game worked off at Nittawela on Sunday.

Kandy dominated both halves of the game and collected their points through five tries, four conversions and two penalties while CR&FC responded with two tries, two conversions and two penalties. The winners led 22-13 at half time.

The game was played at a furious pace and Kandy got the better of the exchanges thanks winning a major share in the set pieces. The players who dazzled for Kandy in the first half were Chathura Soysa, Milan Weerasinghe and Dinal Ekanayake who scored once each for the Nittawela side. CR’s solitary try in the first half was scored by Omalka Guneratne.

Kandy opened up in the second half thanks to tries coming from Kenula Mihisara and Dinal Ekanayake. Guneratne scored again for CR in the second half, smashing through with his sheer power play. Doray kicked right two conversions and two penalties for CR.

Havelocks Sports Club kept hopes of finishing on a high this season when they overcame Air Force Sports Club by 40 points 22 in a Cup Championship rugby encounter of the domestic league tournament played on Saturday.

The match was evenly contested in the first half and Havelocks managed to stay just ahead of their opponents by two points (19-17) when both teams went in for half time.

Havies played cohesive rugby in the second half and raked in more tries to blow away the challenge posed by the airmen. All in all Havies collected their points through six tries and five conversions while Air Force responded with four tries and a conversion. The players who stood out for Havelocks were Jayathu Rajarathne who touched down twice and Samuel Maduwantha who sliced through five conversions.

In the Plate segment, CH&FC smashed the daylights out of Army in a one sided game at Panagoda. CH got 33 points on the board while the soldiers responded with a solitary try and a conversion. CH have a good chance of winning the plate championship this season.

In another Plate Championship match played on Saturday, Police ran riot before beating Navy Sport Club by 67 points to 19 in a lopsided game at Police Park. The players who stood out for Police were F. Amjad, A.Madusanka and U. Sanjula who touched down once each. Y.Peiris kicked right four conversions.

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