On Wednesday bourse closed in negative territory led by price declines in index heavy blue-chips. All share price index dropped by 107.67 points (-1.73%) and S&P SL 20 index decreased by 59.81 points (-1.71%). Daily market turnover was LKR 954mn. Sampath Bank with LKR 506mn, John Keells Holdings with LKR 95mn and Union Bank with LKR 54mn emerged as top contributors to the market turnover. Shares of Union Bank were heavily traded today due to rumors and media reports on possible acquisition by the cash-rich National Development Bank. Nation Lanka Finance and John Keells Holdings were also among the heavily traded stocks. Foreign investors were net buyers with a net inflow of LKR 337mn and foreign participation was 49% of the market activity.
Market extended losses further on Thursday as ASI slumped by 30.79 index points (-0.50%) and S&P SL 20 Index dropped by 12.10 index points (-0.35%). Daily market turnover was LKR 653mn. John Keells Holdings with LKR 203mn, Hemas Holdings with LKR 177mn and Commercial Bank with LKR 82mn were the top contributors to the market turnover. Meanwhile Sanasa Development Bank, John Keells Holdings and Panasian Power were the mostly traded stocks during the day. Foreign participation for the day was 69% whereas foreign investors were net sellers with a net outflow of LKR 92.5mn.
On Friday market closed the operations with notable losses in both indexes as ASI closed below 6,000 levels after five weeks. Broad market index lost 134.05 index points (-2.20%) to end at 5,951.83 while S&P SL 20 Index lost 79.31 points (-2.32%) to end at 3,342.96. Price depreciations in large cap stocks such as Ceylon Tobacco by 13.3%, Nestle by 5.4% and John Keells Holdings by 3.3% contributed adversely to the market performance.
Market turnover was LKR 978mn. Heavily traded John Keells Holdings with LKR 474mn, HDFC with LKR 300mn and Commercial Bank with LKR 73mn emerged as the highest contributors to the market turnover with the support of off-the-floor deals. 1.4mn shares of John Keells Holdings, 7.5mn shares of HDFC and 0.6mn shares of Commercial Bank changed hands at a price of LKR 240.00, LKR 40.00 and LKR 117.50 per share respectively.
Further, Vallibel One, Access Engineering and Expo Lanka attracted heavy retail investor interest during the day. Meanwhile 45% of the market activity was driven by foreign investors and foreign investors were net seller with a net outflow of 72mn.
Cash map closed at 25.95%
ASI recorded its biggest weekly loss in 16 months as index fell throughout the week on index heavy blue chips amid foreign buying. ASI fell by 4.5% (281.38 points) to end at four month low of 5,951.83. Price depreciation in heavy market cap stocks such as Ceylon Tobacco by 19%WoW, Ceylinco Insurance by 15%WoW, Nestle by 10%WoW and John Keells Holdings by 6%WoW contributed negatively to the weekly performance. Interestingly foreign investors were quite active during the week and foreign participation further improved to 51% from 44% week ago. Foreign investors were net buyers during the week with a total net inflow of LKR 1.0bn. Year-to-date net foreign inflow was LKR 17.8bn.