Sri Lankan stocks jump on hopes for a settlement

Sri Lankan stocks jumped nearly six percent on Monday as hopes for a settlement to the island's political crisis fuelled local buying of blue chips.
The key Colombo all-share index closed up 5.74 percent, or 64.16 points, to 1,181.00 after initial figures showed it gained more than six percent.
Total market turnover rose to 468 million rupees - nearly double last week's average - on what was mostly local retail activity, with just 11 million rupees of foreign purchases and 32 million rupees of foreign sales.
Nations Trust Bank Ltd led turnover with 2.7 million shares changing hands, and surged 8.85 percent, or 2.50 rupees, to 30.75 rupees.
Sri Lanka Telecom Ltd, the largest stock by market capitalisation, rose 11.54 percent, or 2.25 rupees, to 21.75 rupees on two million shares, while conglomerate John Keells Holdings Ltd gained 7.69 percent, or eight rupees, to 112 rupees on 294,000 shares.
But some brokers said the market gains could be short-lived.
"If a compromise is not reached, negative sentiment could return," said one broker.