The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will launch a series of island-wide investor forums for retail savers, starting with a free public event at the World Trade Centre trading floor on Thursday, June 25.
The opening forum will run at 5:00 pm, with the trading floor open from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm to allow walk-in account openings. Stockbroking firms and unit trust associations will be on hand throughout the day, the CSE said.
The session will feature interactive panel discussions involving CSE staff, SEC officials, stockbrokers and unit trust association members, and will be conducted in Sinhala. The exchange said entry is free and aimed at first-time investors as well as savers considering shifting deposits into capital-market instruments.
The programme is the latest in a year-long push to broaden Sri Lanka’s narrow equity-investor base after the ASPI rallied to fresh highs around the Iran ceasefire announcement and a string of strong Q1 banking and conglomerate earnings. The all-share has spent much of June trading near 22,000 points and posted single-day gains of as much as 743 points during the Hormuz-related risk-on episodes.
CSE and SEC have not yet published the full island-wide schedule, but said additional forums will follow at venues outside Colombo as part of the series. Retail account openings remain a known soft spot for the Sri Lankan equity market, which is dominated by institutional and high-net-worth participation.
Source: Sri Lanka’s CSE, SEC announce island-wide investor forums — EconomyNext, June 19.
