Considerable gains in the stock market indices

Acuity Stockbrokers Research Ltd in their market review indicated that the week came as a breather as the indices gained considerably compared to the previous week after recording losses consistently. All Share Price Index (ASPI) gained by 2.61% up by 166.61 points to end at 6547.68. Relaxation in credit guidelines by SEC coupled with refund of Laugfs boosted the market.

Foreign investors were on a buying spree and selected counters witnessed significant interest from investors. Milanka Price Index (MPI) added 102.80 points to end at 7055.45 increasing by 1.48%. Aggregate turnover for the week was Rs.14.6bn as against Rs. 8.3bn the week before. Market Capitalization was recorded at Rs.2169.39bn as against Rs.2114.16bn recorded in the previous week.

Banks and Finance sector dominated market turnover with nearly 34.55% with the sector index closing at 16,197.94. Seylan, HNB and Sampath Bank were the main counters that added to the Bank and Finance sector. Diversified followed the turnover statistics at 24.08% and Beverage, Food and Tobacco at 11.49%. JKH and Aitken Spence added to the Diversified sector while Food & Beverage sector values were driven by Cargills .

JKH contributed nearly 18.84% to the market turnover with Rs.2.7bn on a share volume of 9.2mn shares. Seylan Bank contributed 1.5bn of the week’s turnover with a share volume of 14mn. Cargills and Asiri contributed Rs.973mn and 816mn respectively to the turnover.

The most traded stock during the week was S M B Leasing Nonvoting with 202.7mn shares to close at Rs.1. SMB Leasing Voting, Asiri and Piramal Glass were other heavily traded shares with volumes of 152.59 mn, 90.72mn and 46.76mn shares.

The foreigners close the week as net buyers amounting to Rs.3bn as against net buying of Rs.538 mn last week with keen interest on JKH and Spence.

The week’s top gainer was Bogala Graphite with 55% price rise and the counter closed at Rs.60.3. Amongst other price gainers were Three Acre Farms, Singer Industries and Vallibel Finance with price rise of 44%, 35% and 28% respectively. Bogawantalawa at Rs.20.5 was the major loser for the week which was down by
33.66%.

The other major losers were Keells Food and Huejay where price slipped by 13.89% and 12.5%.

In their point of view ASR indicated that trading activity at the Colombo bourse this week was on a mixed note with the indices losing on profit taking to gain the following day on buying interest. However, the volume of shares transacted and the value generated including net foreign buying of Rs. 3bn indicates improved sentiments from the previous week.

The expect the market to continue this trend during the week ahead with interest in selected counters and fundamentally strong stocks to persist. Secondary market trading of Laugfs is expected to kick off during the week ahead giving impetus to investor outlook.

- Asian Tribune -