Bourse further dipped by 131 points and recorded at 9,396 primarily due to profit taking on the banking sector, which was the biggest contributor to the index yesterday.
LIOC continued to decline with panic-selling as uncertainty emerged among investors as margins are expected to shrink due to possible fuel price revisions which will be determined based on the 2018 price formula.
Consumer services sector witnessed active investor participation driven by the tourism sector which experienced more than 76,000 tourist arrivals during the first three weeks of March 2023. Mixed sentiment was observed on treasury shares despite a drastic dip in T-bill yields by 100bps.
Market turnover was recorded at a substantial level hitting a 12-day high of LKR 3.4Bn (+85% cf. monthly average turnover of LKR 1.9Bn) contributed by the Food, Beverage & Tobacco sector (60%) and largely led by crossings. AGAL.N (45.3Mn shares at LKR 35.0) witnessed a stake change of c.29% through an off-board transaction with D R Industries (Private) Limited. AGAL and CTC led the overall turnover while AGAL contributed LKR 1.6 Bn (46%) and CTC contributed LKR 334.4 Mn (10%). Meanwhile, SEMB.X dominated the market volume with 58.3 Mn shares (35%) while AGAL recorded the second largest volume of 45.6 Mn shares (28%). Overall volume significantly increased compared to the previous session and recorded at 164.4 Mn.
Top gainers for the day were LCEY (+20%), CLND (+18%), TESS.X (+13%), CHOT (+8%)and HSIG(+6%). Meanwhile, the top losers for the day were SINI (-9%), JINS (-9%), SIGV(-8%), MULL(-8%) and RGEM (-8%).
Foreign investors remained net buyers with low participation and recorded a net foreign outflow of LKR298.1Mn.
(First Capital Research)