Bourse loses Rs. 35 b in value over negative local investor sentiments

Feb 19 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan stocks fell to a five-week low on Tuesday, dragged by top mobile phone operator, Dialog Axiata, on the back of a drop in earnings. The rupee slid to a seven-week low against the dollar.

The main share index fell 0.64 percent, or 37.11 points, to end at 5,737.48, its lowest since January 10.

Shares of Dialog Axiata fell 2.2 percent to 9.90 rupees. On Monday it reported a 30 percent fall in its December quarter profit.

The day's turnover was 1.52 billion rupees ($11.99 million), higher than this year's daily average of 1.12 billion rupees.

Foreign investors were net buyers of 301.1 million rupees worth of shares on Tuesday, but they have been net sellers of 614.6 million rupees so far this year.

The rupee ended weaker at 127.20/30 to the dollar, its lowest since January 1, from Monday's close of 126.90/95 due to importer dollar demand, dealers said.

($1 = 126.8000 Sri Lanka rupees)

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/02/19/markets-srilanka-idUKL4N0BJ3S320130219

WRITTEN BY THARANGA SENARATNE

Feb 19, 2013 (LBT) - Trading depicted a rather stagnant mode extending its downtrend backed by selling pressure. Despite the dormant activity, S&P SL20 caliber players booked the top turnover slot while banking counters strengthened the dull turnover level adding five crossings during mid-day which carried the turnover past Rs 1.5 billion, the highest in a week. The ASPI slipped as much as 40 points before settling with a dip of 37 points at 5,737.48 points weighing on losses in large caps; Dialog Axiata (-2.2%), Lanka Orix Leasing (-2.0%) and Aitken Spence (-1.7%). The S&P SL20 secured a lesser dip of 10 points at 3,238.57 points.

Hatton National Bank gathered attraction dominating the day’s turnover supported by 4 off-market blocks accumulating to c.5.3 million shares at Rs 147.0 while on-board interest weighed largely on the selling side as the share slipped 0.7% at its close. Investors continued to seek after Commercial Bank with its price appreciating to Rs. 109.0 (+1.4%) at its peak while a block of 2 million shares were crossed off at the same price. Notable on-board interest was depicted in the counter including a block of c.235k shares which changed hands at Rs 108.6. Both the counters contributed 51% to the day’s turnover. Sampath Bank too gathered some interest touching an intra-day high of Rs 240.0 before securing a marginal gain at its close of Rs 238.4. Interest continued in John Keells Holdings having witnessed significant on-board interest throughout the day. A block of 218k shares was transacted at Rs 231.0 during mid-day before its price touched Rs 231.50 on thin volume. Distilleries with its recent announcement of impressive 484% growth in earnings gathered some renewed play trading between Rs 180.0 and Rs 185.0.

Access Engineering was noted in the top turnover with a block of 450k shares which traded at Rs 20.5 on board while it gained 0.5% at its close of Rs 20.5. Several counters traded at their 52-week low levels including Tokyo Cement [Voting and Non-Voting], with the release of its significant dip in earnings, trades weighed largely on the selling side. Retailer activity primarily attracted penny play surrounding Amana Takaful, Free Lanka Capital, SMB Leasing and Panasian Power. European Shares Gain before Zew Survey as Metals Drop: European shares rose for the first time in four days after a report showed rising investor confidence in Germany. The yen strengthened while Chinese shares retreated the most in a month and industrial metals declined. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.6% at 10:03 a.m. in London as Danone SA jumped the most in more than 2.5 years. WTI Drops a Second Day; BofA Sees Brent Capped at USD140 This Year: West Texas Intermediate fell, extending the biggest drop in two weeks, while Brent slid for a fourth day. WTI for March delivery, which expires tomorrow, slid as much as 61 cents to USD95.25 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange and was at USD95.47 as of 9:57 a.m. London time.
http://lbt.lk/stock-market/movement/3723-banking-counters-extend-their-prominence-amidst-downtrend-in-indices

The Colombo bourse continued its slide with both indices closing in the red with turnover exceeding the rupees one-and-a-half billion mark on Tuesday (19).

The All Share Price Index fell 37.11 points, down 0.64 percent to 5,737.48 while the S&P SL20 closed 10.71 points lower, down 0.32 percent to 3,238.57.

Foreign purchases amounted to Rs. 1.19 billion while foreign selling amounted to Rs. 894.8 million, resulting in a net inflow of Rs, 301.1 million.

Crossings in Com Bank, HNB and JKH buoyed turnover which reached Rs. 1.52 billion.

"Turnover however improved to Rs. 1.5 billion with quantities of Hatton National Bank, Commercial Bank and John Keells Holdings changing hands that accounted for 84% of the day’s total. Losers outpaced gainers with Taprobane Holdings, Hikkaduwa Beach Resort and Hayleys Fibre declining by 12.5%, 11.3% and 10.6% offsetting gains in PC Pharma, Mackwoods Energy and Kelsey Developments which rose by 12.8%, 10.0% and 8.2% respectively," DNH Financial said.

"Heading towards the rest of the week, we expect any selling pressure to fizzle off over the next couple of days. We re-iterate the need for investors to go bottom-fishing concentrating on fundamentally strong stocks that have strong and sustainable business models and are likely to continue to report healthy earnings growth on the back of the robust domestic consumption cycle shrugging off the high interest rate environment," it said.
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=73015

The Colombo stock market has seen Rs. 35 billion in value wiped off so far this week and year-to-date return has shrunk to below 2%, with local investors either selling out or on the sidelines owing to negative developments.

On Monday market capitalisation was down by Rs. 21 billion whilst yesterday the dip was lesser at Rs. 14 billion.

Despite the year-to-date net outflow of Rs. 1 billion as of early this week, there was net foreign inflow of over Rs. 300 million yesterday.

This was emphasised by NDB Stockbrokers which headlined its market report ‘Foreign accumulation continues as market loses ground’. It said the market remained in the negative territory despite continuing to witness continuing foreign activity.

Hatton National Bank saw foreign transfers as well as some local interest while Commercial Bank and John Keells Holdings experienced foreign buying, boosting turnover levels. Meanwhile, Sampath Bank saw accumulation while some retail activity was seen in Free Lanka Capital Holdings and Panasian Power.

“Yesterday indices closed lower with many blue chips losing ground whilst John Keells Holdings managing to hold steady. Large deals on banking counters Hatton National Bank and Commercial Bank helped to boost turnover on day dominated by blue chips,” said Lanka Securities, adding “A period of stock picking is upon us as we can expect a slight bearish trend in the near term.”

ASI lost 37.11 points or 0.64%, slimming its year-to-date gain to 1.67%, and the S&P SL20 index lost 10.71 points or 0.33%. Turnover was a respectable Rs. 1.52 billion.

Top contributors to turnover were Hatton National Bank with Rs. 799.5 million, Commercial Bank with Rs. 281 million, and John Keells Holdings with Rs. 197.6 million. Most active counters for the day were Central Investments & Finance, Sampath Bank and John Keells Holdings.

Lanka Securities said cash map yesterday was 34.75%. Foreign participation was 68.76% of total market turnover whilst net foreign buying was Rs. 301.1 million.

Foreign purchases were Rs. 1,195.92 million as against sales of Rs. 894.81 million.

Softlogic Stockbrokers said HNB saw a volume of 5.4 million shares transacting, of which 5.28 million traded via four off the market trades at a uniform price of Rs. 147. The counter traded at a low of Rs. 147 and a high of Rs. 148 before ending the day at Rs. 147, losing 0.68% or Re. 1 over Monday’s closing.

COMB saw two million shares changing hands at Rs. 109 each through a crossing generating a turnover of Rs. 218 million. The counter ended the day at Rs. 108.60 rising by 1.02%.

JKH, SAMP and DIST witnessed price appreciations towards the end of the trading session.
DNH Financial said heading towards the rest of the week, it expects any selling pressure to fizzle out over the next couple of days.

“We reiterate the need for investors to go bottom-fishing concentrating on fundamentally-strong stocks that have strong and sustainable business models and are likely to continue to report healthy earnings growth on the back of the robust domestic consumption cycle shrugging off the high interest rate environment,” it added.
http://www.ft.lk/2013/02/20/bourse-loses-rs-35-b-in-value-over-negative-local-investor-sentiments/