Regulator looking at Rajaratnam’s transactions

“Now we are looking at his exposure. We are looking at Rajaratnam’s recent transactions closely in the light of the US development. We have not yet detected anything which has been market offensive,” Channa de Silva,Director General of the Sri Lankan market regulator,said.

Rajaratnam is a major investor in the Lankan stock market and has large stakes in blue-chip companies.

“Rajaratanam’s exposure (in Colombo Stock Exchange) is reasonably high,” De Silva said. Earlier in the day,the stock market lost over 2 per cent when trading began. De Silva assured investors,saying there was no need for alarms as the “market is too strong for investors to panic”. The market stablised towards the closing hours.

The island nation’s 10 billion dollar stock exchange is rated as one of the world’s best performing markets. “Ours is the second best performing market in the world with an (average) return of 107 per cent between January and today,” De Silva said.

Tamil-origin Rajaratnam,head of Galleon Group,has pledged $1 million US in Sri Lankan government’s efforts to rehabilitate ex-LTTE cadres.