Bourse touches near 2-month high

Bourse rallied for the fourth straight day while recording the highest intraday gain in 7-week after investor participation improved on the back of confirmed talks with multilateral and bilateral lenders including world banks and ADB for USD 1.9 Bn after IMF board level agreement was reached.

As a result, the index displayed an unprecedented spike throughout the session while closing the day at a 1-month high of 8,651, gaining 276 points.

Banking sector, LOLC group together with treasury shares positively reacted to the signals issued by CB governor indicating the future direction of interest rates.

Turnover rebounded to near 2-month high of LKR 3.4Bn (+139% cf. monthly average turnover of LKR 1.4Bn) and was largely led by Food, Beverage & Tobacco and Diversified Financial sectors accounting for a joint contribution of 43%. Through off-board, 1.6% stake of OSEA (19.8Mn shares) changed hands at LKR 14.0 per share. (First Capital Research)