Panic selling stirs ASPI down

Bourse ended in the red for the fourth straight day as panic selling stirred among investors following the poor quarter performance of companies while delay in the IMF board level agreement further added to the woes.

Index opened a sharp downtrend and continued to move negatively despite a slight upswing during the initial hour and eventually closed in the red at 8,639 losing 152 points.

Selling was observed largely across all counters but predominantly on Insurance sector counters such as AAIC after speculations rose on the sale value of the company to be lower than anticipated. However, market turnover topped at a 1-week high of LKR 2.3Bn (+26% cf. monthly average turnover of LKR 1.8Bn) led by off-board transactions while Capital Goods sector (35%) and Insurance sector (24%) jointly contributed 59% to overall turnover.

Meanwhile SPEN continued to lead foreign turnover for the second consecutive day. Courtesy FC Research