LSL - Weekly Market Review

The Colombo equity market experienced an eventful week of operations. The week started with SEC Chief’s hinting his resignation within the course of the week and in the mid-week, turnover levels picked up to Rs.1.0bn mark due to foreign strategic buying in market heavyweight John Keells Holdings amid a sharp decline in prices across-the-board this year. ASI advanced by 72.91 points (1.5%WoW) to end at 4,927.13 while liquid MPI increased by 179.14 points (+4.1%WoW) to close at 4,550.02. S&P SL 20 Index closed at 2,795.39, up 61.18 index points (+2.2%WoW).

Average daily market turnover was posted at Rs.432.3mn (+22.0%WoW). Foreign participation stood at 34.1% of the total market activity and at the end of the week foreign investors were the net buyers with a net foreign inflow of Rs.819.2mn. Meanwhile, the yield on the 1-month Treasury bill dropped 1 basis point and the 6-month and 12-month Treasury bills edged up by 4 and 5 basis points respectively.

Market opened trading for the week on a very lull note as investors were seen taking a wait and see approach with the ongoing macro-economic developments in mind. Retail activity was minimal with most institutional investors also staying on the sidelines. ASI dropped 7.77 points (0.16%) to close at 4,846.45, MPI gained marginally by 1.74 points (0.04%) to close at 4,372.62 and the S&P index lost 6.53 points (0.24%) to close at 2,727.68. Turnover was Rs. 165.5Mn. Top contributors to turnover were Sampath Bank with Rs. 23.7Mn, John Keells Holdings with Rs. 16.2Mn and E-Channeling with Rs. 12.8Mn. Most active counters for the day were Piramal Glass, Coco Lanka and PCH Holdings. Foreign participation was 10% of total market turnover and foreigners net buyers of Rs. 22Mn.

On Tuesday market showed times of the good old days as highly capitalized counters such as John Keells Holdings, Commercial Bank and Sampath bank traded at higher prices. Retail active counters followed suite which helped the indices to post their biggest gain after a very lengthy period. ASI gained 61.74 points (1.27%) to close at 4,908.19, MPI gained 141.41 points (3.23%) to close at 4,514.03 and the S&P index gained 39.57 points (1.45%) to close at 2,768.84. Turnover was Rs. 535.5Mn. Top contributors to turnover were John Keells Holdings with Rs. 208.13Mn, Commercial Bank with Rs. 59.32Mn and Dialog Axiata with Rs. 31.25Mn. Most active counters for the day were HVA Foods, Swarnamahal Financial Services and Environmental Resources. Foreign participation was 41.4% of total market turnover and foreigners were net buyers of Rs. 44.5Mn.

Market continued with Tuesday’s momentum with John Keells Holdings, DFCC, Commercial Bank and Sampath Bank leading the way. Towards the latter part of trading most counters were seen losing steam and closing below their intra-day peak. ASI gained 31.47 points (0.64%) to 4,939.66, MPI gained 66.12 points (1.46%) to close at 4,580.15 and S&P index gained 30.94 points (1.12%) to close at 2,799.78. Turnover was Rs. 1,036.9Mn. Top contributors to turnover were John Keells Holdings with Rs. 709.9Mn, DFCC with Rs. 49.4Mn and sampath Bank with Rs. 26.6Mn. Most active counters for the day were Swarnamahal Financial Services, HVA Foods and John Keells Holdings. Foreign participation was 40.4% of total market turnover and foreigners were net buyers of Rs. 586.4Mn.

Market saw a correction on Thursday as recent hot picks such as John Keells Holdings, Commercial Bank and Sampath Bank saw their share prices dropping. Turnover levels fell today as activity on the above mentioned stocks witnessed little activity. Retail investors also remained on the sidelines. ASI dropped by 30.94 points (-0.63%) to close at 4,908.72, MPI lost 58.83 points (-1.28%) to close at 4,521.32 and the S&P index dropped 20.90 points (-0.75%) to close at 2,778.88. Turnover was Rs. 209Mn. Top contributors to turnover were John Keells Holdings with Rs. 46.4Mn, Panasian Power with Rs. 21.3Mn and Seylan Bank non-voting with Rs. 12.9 Mn. Most active counters for the day were Commercial Credit, Swarnamahal Financial Services and HVA Foods. Foreign participation was 20% of total market turnover and foreigners were net buyers of Rs. 26Mn.

Bourse ended its operations for the week with positive returns. Benchmark ASI gained 18.41 points (+0.4%) to close at 4,927.13 while MPI closed at 4,550.02, up 28.70 points (+0.6%). S&P SL 20 Index gained 16.51 index points to close at 2,795.39. Market turnover stood at Rs.216.8mn. Commercial Bank non-voting (Rs.53.05mn), Ascot Holdings (Rs.25.6mn) and Commercial Bank voting (Rs.12.7mn) topped the turnover list for the day. Heavily traded stocks were Swarnamahal Financial Services, Pan Asia Bank and HVA Foods. Foreign participation was 18% of the total market activity and foreigners were net were net buyers of Rs. 40Mn.
Source: Lanka Securities Research