Sri Lanka share market hits all-time-high again

Sri Lanka’s bourse – Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) set a new record, with the benchmark All Share Price Index (ASPI) closing above 5,000 points for the first time in its history on Thursday (September 10) morning.

The ASPI closed the day at 6,023.41 gaining 60.79 points (1.02 per cent) while the more liquid Milanka Price Index (MPI) gained 125.38 points (2.04 per cent) to close the day at 6,278.31, also recording the highest points level in history. The total turnover recorded during the day was Rs. 4.194 billion. Just last week the MPI increased 169.70 points to close at a new all time high of 6066.81 points, breaking the 6,000 points mark for the first time.

The latest record came a day after Mahinda Rajapaksa administration saw Sri Lanka’s Parliament passing the much-debated Eighteenth Amendment, with a majority of 144 votes. 161 Members voted for the Bill, which is said to change the course of the country forever, while a mere 17 voted against it with 46 boycotting the vote calling the Bill as the ‘last nail in the coffin of democracy.’

CSE’s record comes as another victory for the ruling United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance (UPFA). ASPI hit the 5,000 level for the first time on July 28, barely a month before it hit the 6,000 mark, indicating that the Colombo Bourse had appreciated by 1,000 points or by 20 percent within just one month and 12 days. The market capitalisation at the end of trading today of Rs. 2.061 trillion is also the highest market capitalisation recorded in the history of the CSE, compared to 1,210.8 billion as at 31st March 2010.

Bloomberg ranked CSE as the ‘second best performing stock market in the world’ for the year 2010 to date while the Colombo Bourse was already named the second best performing stock market globally for the year 2009.

- Asian Tribune -