* Turnover remains disappointing
The Colombo bourse moved up sharply yesterday although brokers were reluctant to attribute the upward movement totally to the removal of the price band announced yesterday by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
"The market was up about 40 points even before the announcement was made," a broker said. "It went up further thereafter and would certainly have helped retail sentiment."
Despite the sharp movement of both indices – the All Share up 111.25 points (2.06%) and the Milanka up 43.79 points (0.29%), turnover was a disappointing Rs.359.4 million, up from the previous day’s Rs.249.9 million, with 143 gainers strongly outpacing 41 losers.
JKH was the most traded stock with nearly 0.3 million shares done between Rs.207.50 and Rs.209 with the counter closing Rs.3.50 down at Rs.206.50 generating the day’s highest turnover of Rs.61.6 million.
Brokers said that there was renewed interest in Commercial Bank which gained Rs.4.10 to close at Rs.105.90 with over 0.5 million voting shares done between Rs.102.80 and Rs.106 contributing Rs.56.1 million to turnover.
HNB (non-voting) was number three on the turnover league losing 10 cents to close at Rs.96.50 trading between Rs.95.40 and Rs.96.50 generating a business volume of Rs.12.6 million.
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