Market started on a positive note as the drastic drop seen yesterday had triggered fresh buying. However, selling pressure kicked-in and blue-chip counters kept losing ground. National Development bank dropped below the Rs. 130 price level but bargain hunting helped to erase most of the drop. Colonial Motors announced a rights issue but its share price dropped whilst Coco Lanka also dipped. The continuous drop in prices is bringing back attractive valuations to counters.
ASI lost 48.67 points (0.86%) to close at 5608.13, MPI dipped 66.24points (1.28%) to close at 5094.10 and the S&P lost 18.92 points (0.62%) to close at 3036.94. Turnover was Rs. 515.4Mn.
Top contributors to turnover were Asiri Hospital Holdings with Rs. 56.8Mn, Colombo Dockyard with Rs. 46.2Mn and Ceylon Tobacco with Rs. 46.0Mn. Most active counters for the day were Nation Lanka Finance, Vallibel One and Free Lanka Capital Holdings.
Notable gainers for the day were Amana Takaful up by 6.3% to close at Rs. 1.70, Blue Diamonds non-voting up by 5.3% to close at Rs. 2.00 and Asiri Hospital Holdings up by 3.6% to close at Rs. 11.40. Notable losers for the day were Colonial Motors down by 16.1% to close at Rs. 183.00, SMB Leasing non-voting down by 9.1% to close at Rs. 1.00 and Dankotuwa Porcelain down by 8.7% to close at Rs. 16.70.
Cash map for today was 44.47% which highlights the prevalent selling pressure. Foreign participation was 28.30% of total market turnover and net foreign buying stood at Rs. 45.99Mn.
http://www.nation.lk/edition/biz-news/item/11526-bourse-drops-slightly.html