Colombo bourse continues decline

Colombo bourse continued its declining trend amidst the market fear over tax hikes shortly after Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was appointed.

Thus, The All-Share Price Index decreased by 50.6 points (-0.6%) to close at 8,319.6 whilst S&P SL20 Index also declined by 35.1 points (-1.3%) to close at 2,744.9. Expolanka Holdings, Sampath Bank, John Keells Holdings, Melstacorp and Asian Hotels & Properties remained the top negative contributors to the ASPI during the day. Further, the broader market’s total turnover stood at Rs. 1,620.3mn against the 12-month average daily turnover of Rs. 4,665.4mn, whilst the volume traded for the day was 103,762.7k against the 12-month average daily volume of 225,2721.9k. Capital Goods, Transportation and Transportation mostly contributed to yesterday’s turnover.

The top turnover generators for yesterday were Browns Investments Rs. 526.9 mn (+5.3%), Expolanka Holdings Rs. 361.8 mn (-2.5%), Lanka IOC Rs. 106.9 mn (-1.1%), LOLC Finance Rs. 95.1 mn (+3.1%) and LOLC Holdings Rs. 63.1 mn (+0.5%). Foreigners recorded a net outflow of Rs. 47.1 mn yesterday.Foreign purchases stood at Rs. 9.1 mn whilst total foreign sales amounted to Rs. 56.3 mn.

Top foreign buying counters were EXPO Rs. 3.4 mn, MELS Rs. 2.0 mn, DFCC Rs. 0.5 mn, BALA Rs. 0.4 mn, CFIN Rs. 0.4 mn and PABC Rs. 0.2 mn whilsttop foreign selling counters were LIOC Rs. (17.4)mn, LOFC Rs. (7.9) mn, DIAL Rs. (5.3) mn, RCL Rs.(5.1) mn, RICH Rs.(4.0) mn and LWL Rs.(2.5) mn. Further, no off-board transactions were witnessed.

Additionally, Malwatte Valley Plantations (Voting & Non-Voting), Colombo City Holdings, Colombo Investment Trust and Hunas Falls Hotels were the top price gainers yesterday whilst Laugfs Power, Marawila Resorts, Amaya Leisure, Kelani Cables and Brown & Co. were the top price losers. Further, Browns Investments, LOLC Finance, Prime Land Residencies, SMB Leasing (Non-Voting)and Amana Bank were amongst the most actively traded stocks yesterday.