Profiting from Chaos ...

In recent times, the Colombo Stock Exchange has become more volatile than before,

With significant moves both up and down in the indices in very short periods of time. This volatility offers many opportunities for the informed investor who has upto date information at his fingertips. Investors seeking superior returns have of late, been keeping track of the stock market regularly, even on a day to day basis. They fully realise that prices, valuations and prospects for companies can fluctuate widely, reflecting the events and changes in the region and worldwide.While investors recognise the need for regular analysis to identify the best opportunities, they don't always have the time to do their analysis regularly.

So what information do investors need to make timely, informed and accurate investment decisions?

Investors examine a stock's (company's) intrinsic value; They will examine a company' earnings prospects, the book value of a share, the dividend yield and cash flows of the company to determine whether a stock is worth acquiring or if it's overvalued and time to sell. They will be concerned with the Earnings per Share and the Price Earnings Multiple of the stock as well as the Sector and the Overall market. In addition, investors realise the importance played by foreign funds and will be interested in the net foreign holdings of the stocks they are interested in and also whether foreigners have been net sellers or buyers of this particular stock.

Until now, individual investors had to depend almost totally on brokers, published research and the annual reports released by the companies themselves to keep track of stocks. More often than not, this information was outdated and already reflected in market prices. With the advancement in information technology however, it is possible for individual investors to keep track of all the required information on ongoing, daily basis, at an affordable price. Investors can use Lanka On-Line's StockNet email product, an analysis program that is updated via a daily email, to keep track of the stock market and avail themselves of the competitive edge in the market that was available only to the foreign and institutional investor.

StockNet email delivers Daily to your desktop - at home or office - all the required information on the stocks traded at the Colombo Stock Exchange to enable you to make timely and informed investment decisions.

For quick and easy reference, the StockNet email program; is composed of Snapshots and supports the 'Top Down' approach to stock analysis. Starting with a Market Snapshot, then Sectors and Stocks Snapshots.

The Market snapshot displays market indicators for the current days trading compared with the previous day, percentage changes from a month, year ago, detailed analysis of the last 5 days trading including foreign activity and a one year's chart of the Indices. Investors will be able to get a 'feel' for the overall market through the Market Snapshot.

The Sectors snapshot provides sector P/Es, dividend yields, and market caps for each sector in the CSE with comparison for historical periods. Also detailed analysis of the last 5 trading on a rolling basis and graphical representation sectoral indices compared with the All Share Index.

APMF President to visit Sri Lanka

Mr. Hermawan Kartajaya, President of the Asia Pacific Marketing Federation and the Indonesia Marketing Association would be visiting Sri Lanka early next month, as a guest of the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing.

Mr. Kartajaya will be in Sri Lanka to attend a series of events organised by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing.

The Asia Pacific Marketing Federation is a Federation of National Professional Institutes of Marketing from eighteen countries and is affiliated to the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing which is Sri Lanka's National Institute of Marketing incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1980.

Mr. Kartajaya who graduated from the University of Surabaya, went on to do post graduate work in International Marketing at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. He has also followed several Executive Education Courses at the Harvard Business School, the Wharton Business School, and the University of Michigan among others.

A widely sought-after lecturer in marketing and sales at several universities in Sura-baya, Mr. Hermawan is a columnist for a number of prestigious magazines and periodicals. A Professional Member of the America Marketing Association, he is President of the Indonesia Marketing Association and President of the Asia Pacific Marketing Federation for the period l998 upto the year 2000.

Mr. Kartajaya established Mark Plus Professional Service in 1989 and he serves a number of companies in the field of education, information and consultation using Marketing Plus 2000 Framework. MarkPlus also works with two consulting firms located in New York.

Economy will grow by 7%, says Indian PM

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on September 18 expressed the hope that the economy would grow at the rate of seven per cent annually in the next three years. It would grow at eight per cent annually thereafter despite the "difficult and uncertain" global environment, he hoped.

Chairing the first meeting of the high-level council on trade and industry, Mr. Vajpayee said the ''inherent resilience and strength" of the Indian economy was evident as it had grown by six per cent when world markets were depressed and South-East Asia, Japan and Russia were plagued by crisis.

There was, however, no room for complacency, he cautioned, and asked industry captains to rekindle the "spirit of enterprise" to achieve an industrial growth of 10 per cent next year and 12 to 13 per cent thereafter. Exports should grow 15 to 20 per cent in dollar terms to achieve the overall growth target, he said.

The meeting was attended, among others, by Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Jaswant Singh and Cabinet Secretary Prabhat Kumar. Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Brajesh Mishra is on the council while Secretary in the Prime Minister's office N. K. Singh is the Member Secretary.

Industry captains on the council are Ratan Tata, Suresh Krishna, Parvinder Singh, Mukesh Ambani, N.R. Narayan Murthy, R. P. Goenka, P. K. Mittal, Kumaramangalam Birla' Nusli Wadia and A.C. Muthiah. The council decided to set up six groups "in the nature of task force" to consider and recommend action plans. The groups are to focus on food and agro-industries management policy; infrastructure; capital markets and financial sector initiatives; knowledge-based industries; service industries and administrative and legal simplification. According to an official statement, the groups would finalise their action plans within 30 days after interacting with concerned ministries. Their reports will be considered at council meetings that follow. The groups are free to co-opt officials from concerned ministries and external experts.

The Central Bank's Spot Rates for transactions with Commercial Banks announced on the morning of September 30, 1998 were as follows:

The approximate middle exchange rates of following currencies calculated on the basis of cross rates quoted by Gulf International Bank, Bahrain as it appeared in Reuters Financial Information System on September 30, 1998 were as follows:

Average rates at which the following currencies were quoted by Commercial Banks in Colombo for Telegraphic Transfers at mid-day on September 30, 1998 were as follows:

Average Weighted Prime Lending Rate (AWRP) and Lowest Prime Rate (LPR)
The Average Weighted Prime Lending Rate (AWPR) during the week ended September 25th, 1998 was 14.8 per cent for all banks. The Lowest Prime Rate among banks during this week was 13.5 per cent.

Average Weighted Deposit Rate of Commercial Banks (AWDR)
The Average Weighted Deposit Rate (AWDR) of Commercial Banks for the month ended August 31st, 1998 was 9.6 percent.