Sri Lanka shares at new peak, up 123 pct this year

Colombo Stock Exchange

Sri Lankan stocks hit another record high in the first hour of trading Tuesday after having already more than doubled this year.

The All-Share Price Index of the Colombo Stock Exchange gained 0.82 percent or 27.62 points to 3,372.51, surpassing its previous high of 3,350.50 points hit on Monday.
The bourse has risen over 123 percent so far this year and 15.6 percent this month.
Analysts said local investors were driving up the market after they have seen foreigners buying shares when the market slows down.

"Foreign buying confidence is still encouraging the market," Danushka Samarasinghe, head of research at Asia Securities, said.
Analysts also said that investors were positioning ahead of Jan. 26 presidential polls, betting that regardless of the outcome the stock market will continue its climb, fuelled by post-war economic optimism.
The foreign investors have sold a net 576.3 million rupees worth of stocks so far this year, compared to a record net foreign inflow of 13.9 billion rupees in 2008.
But analysts said the number largely reflected the exit of Galleon hedge fund after its founder Raj Rajaratnam was charged with insider trading by U.S. authorities and that foreigners had been net buyers in recent weeks.