Marginal rise in CSE trading; PM’s statement positively impacts bourse

By Hiran H.Senewiratne

CSE trading started on a positive note and during the middle of the session the bourse showed some substantial gains. The trading ended marginally up yesterday, stock market analysts said.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe’s statement on the current economic situation in Parliament that the IMF staff level discussions will be concluded at the end of June and that the debt restructuring is likely to end in July, gave some confidence to stock market investors, market analysts added.

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund and the programme for a bailout package would be finalized by the end of July.

PM Wickremesinghe also said the framework for Sri Lanka’s debt restructuring is expected to be finalized by the end of July following discussions with the financial and legal advisory firms Lazard Ltd. and Clifford Chance LLP.

A high-level government delegation from India is set to visit Sri Lanka for a discussion on possible further loan assistance, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said.

Three officials from the Indian government will arrive in Colombo today for this meeting, Wickremesinghe told parliament. This was also a positive sign for the stock market, analysts said.

Further, the global crude oil price has also declined and the fact that a barrel of crude oil has gone down to the US$ 105 level from US $ 111 would positively impact Sri Lankan oil imports.

Amid those developments both internal and external positive developments were significantly reflected in the stock market; both indices moved upwards marginally. All Share Price Index went up by 9.97 points and S and P SL20 rose by 9.2 points. Turnover stood at Rs 690 million without any arranged transactions or crossings.

In the retail market top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were Expolanka Holdings Rs 200 million (1.1 million shares traded), Browns Investments Rs 78 million (9.5 million shares traded), Royal Ceramic Rs 76.2 million (2.8 million shares traded), Vallibel One Rs 49.6 million (1.3 million shares traded), Lanka IOC Rs 43 million (638,000 shares traded), Richard Peiris Rs 21.3 million (1.8 million shares traded) and Seylan Bank Rs 14.4 million (515,000 shares traded). During the day 37.4 million share volumes changed hands in 9500 transactions.

Major sectors that contributed to the turnover were the Transport, which contributed Rs. 200 million, Capital Goods Rs 185 million and Food Beverages and Tobacco Rs 112 million.

Yesterday, the Central Bank announced its dollar rate. The buying rate was Rs 365.44 and the selling rate Rs 367.11. It is said that due to the Central Bank’s prudent monetary management the rupee also showed some appreciation.

Island.lk

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