By Hiran H.Senewiratne
Trading at the CSE indicated dull sentiments due to the long weekend kicking in and the festive season dampening investor momentum yesterday, an analyst said.
“This week trade is affected with the arrival of the long weekend for the Sinhalese and Tamil New Year. This has not sparked interest in investing, a top market analyst told The Island Financial Review.
Amid those developments mixed reactions were noted in both indices. All Share Price Index went up by 3.59 points and S and P SL20 went down by 12.94 points. Turnover stood at Rs 947 million with a single crossing. Those crossing was reported in Hemas, which crossed 1.25 million shares to the tune of Rs 80 million and its shares traded at Rs 64.
In the retail market top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were; Expolanka Holdings Rs 115 million (696,000 shares traded), First Capital Treasuries Rs 45.6 million (1.8 million shares traded), JKH Rs 37 million (270,000 shares traded), Hemas Holdings Rs 35.6 million (556,000 shares traded), Lanka IOC Rs 32.5 million (181,000 shares traded), Agsta Rs 30 million (2.3 million shares traded) and Singer (Sri Lanka) Rs 26.7 million (1.8 million shares traded). During the day 40.8 million share volumes changed hands in 13580 transactions.
It is said high net worth and institutional investor participation was noted in JKH, Lanka Tiles and Hayleys. Mixed interest was observed in Expolanka Holdings, Tokyo Cement Company nonvoting and Lanka IOC, whilst retail interest was noted in SMB Leasing nonvoting, Marawila Resorts (rights) and Browns Investments.
The Transportation sector was the second highest contributor to the market turnover (due to Expolanka Holdings), whilst the sector index increased by 3.68 per cent. The share price of Expolanka Holdings decreased by Rs.450 to Rs. 164.00.
The Materials sector was the top contributor to the market turnover (due to Tokyo Cement Company nonvoting) whilst the sector index gained 1.68 per cent. The share price of Tokyo Cement Company nonvoting gained Rs. 1.50 to reach Rs. 48.
Yesterday the Central Bank ‘s US dollar buying rate was Rs 311.56 and selling rate Rs 327.17. The inflation in the country has come down to 53.60 per cent.
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