Market extended losses on Tuesday followed by price depreciations in index weighty George Stuart Finance, Nestle and Ceylinco Insurance. Benchmark ASI lost 15.48 points (-0.26%) and S&P SL 20 Index lost 3.53 points (-0.11%) during the day. Daily market turnover was l LKR 254mn. Sampath Bank with LKR 54mn, John Keells Holdings with LKR 35mn and Central Finance with LKR 20mn were the largest contributors to the market turnover. Touchwood Investments, John Keells Holdings and PC House were the heavily traded stocks during the day.
Colombo stocks snapped the five day losing streak and ended on positive territory on Wednesday. ASI gained 35.89 points (+0.6%) led by price appreciations in index heavy counters such as John Keells Holdings, Sri Lanka Telecom and Ceylinco Insurance.. S&P SL 20 index gained of 17.12 points (0.5%) during the day. Market turnover was LKR 228mn. John Keells Holdings (LKR 54mn), PC House (LKR 17mn) and Touchwood (LKR 14mn) were the top contributors to the days’ turnover while PC House, Touchwood and PCH Holdings were among the heavily traded counters of the day. Interest rates on treasury bills fell by 2bps across all maturities in today’s auction with rates on three, six and twelve months reaching 8.63%, 9.68% and 10.64% respectively.
Market ended with positive returns on Thursday mainly due to the price appreciations in large cap stocks such as John Keells Holdings, George Steuart Finance and Dialog Axiata. These three stocks together contribute 59% of the ASI improvement. ASI gained 46.33 points (+0.77%) and S&P SL 20 Index gained 27.82 points (+0.83%). Daily market turnover was LKR 242mn. John Keells Holdings was the top contributors to the market turnover with LKR 40.5mn followed by Lanka IOC with LKR 21.1mn and Ceylon Tobacco with LKR 10.3mn.
On Friday stock market ended the week trading on negative note. Benchmark broad market index lost 33.64 index points (-0.55%) to close at 6,028.74 and S&P SL 20 Index lost 7.47 points (-0.22%) to end at 3,385.43. Daily market turnover was LKR 329mn. PC House was the top contributor to the market turnover with LKR 75mn followed by John Keells Holdings (LKR 44mn) and Lanka Tiles (LKR 29mn). PC House is the mostly traded stock where nearly 61mn shares which accounted for 26.5% of the issued shares traded during the day. PC House closed at LKR 1.20, down by 8%. Further, Ceylon & Foreign Trades and John Keells Holdings also were among the heavily traded stocks. Foreign participation for the day was 13% and foreign investors ended as net buyers with a net inflow of LKR 43mn. Cash map closed at 42.0% for the day.
During the week market capitalization deteriorated by 2% and ASI lost 19 points (-0.3%). S&P SL 20 Index managed to close with a marginal improvement of 2 points (+0.1%). Aggregate turnover of the week dropped by 55% and trading volume dropped by 33% compared to the previous week.