Colombo Stocks Gain 6.5%; Prabhakaran Dead

123jump.com Staff
18 May, 2009
New York City

Stocks in Colombo surged after the army declared victory over LTTE rebel and also confirmed the death of its leadership including Prabhakaran. Pottu Amman, the chief of intelligence behind the killing of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was found dead in a battle with the army.

[R]10:00PM Colombo – Stocks in Colombo surged after the army declared victory over LTTE rebel and also confirmed the death of its leadership including Prabhakaran. Pottu Amman, the chief of intelligence behind the killing of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was found dead in a battle with the army.[/R]

Sri Lanka Markets Surge on LTTE Defeat

The Colombo All Share Index surged 6.5% to 2,030.90 after President Mahinda Rajapaksa claimed victory over Tamil Tigers. The rebel group LTTE, labeled as terrorist group by India, U.S. and the European Union and is responsible for the killing of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and several military and political leaders in Sri Lanka.

The 26-year war with the Tamil Tigers will be officially declared over in a speech to the Sri Lankan Parliament by President Rajapaksa on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. Colombo time.

The Sri Lankan army also confirmed the killing of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and his twenty five associates including chief of intelligence Pottu Amman who was behind the killing of Rajiv Gandhi.
Prabhakaran and Amman were convicted in India in absentia for the killing.

LTTE controlled at its peak one quarter of the island nation of Sri Lanka and ruled with an iron fist that covered 65,000 square kilometers. The LTTE wages its bloody with the help of small individual contributions from Tamil Diaspora in India, Norway, UK, France, Canada and Australia.

At times, the annual contributions reached above $80 million according to several sources in Sri Lankan and Indian intelligence agencies.

Gainers & Losers

Hotel chains led gainers in trading. Miramar surged 33% followed by increase in Taj Lanka of 21% and Keells Hotels of 18.8%.

The CSE All Share Index is up 35.4% for the year.

Asian Markets Review

The Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed lower 226.33 or 2.44% to 9,038.69, Hang Seng index in Hong Kong increased 232.21 or 1.38% closed to 17,022.91, CSI 300 index in China higher 14.46 or 0.52% closed to 2,810.57. ASX 200 index in Australia decreased 37.60 or 1.00% closed to 3,735.60. The KL Composite index in Malaysia lower 2.20 or 0.22% closed to 1,012.01.

The Kospi Index in South Korea decreased 5.05 or 0.36% to close at 1,386.68. SET index in Thailand closed higher 6.30 or 1.18% to 540.22 and JSE Index in Indonesia increased 52.65 or 3.01% closed to 1,803.57. The Sensex index in India increased 2,110.79 or 17.34% closed to 14,284.21.