Indices gain tidily as bourse looks up, Advancers outpace decliners 5:1

Sri Lanka stocks close 0.9-pct higher

Dec 19, 2013 (LBO) - Sri Lanka stocks close up 0.9 percent Thursday with tobacco and diversified firms gaining, brokers said.

The Colombo benchmark All Share Price Index closed 55.24 points higher at 5,867.00, up 0.95 percent. The S&P SL20 closed 32.75 points higher at 3,224.46, up 1.03 percent.

Turnover was 567.36 million rupees, down from 592.56 million rupees a day earlier, with stocks of 41 firms closing in the red against 137 gainers.

Chevron Lubricants closed 4.00 rupees higher at 267.20 rupees with an off market transaction of 99 million rupees contributing to 17 percent of total turnover.

Marawila Resorts closed 30 cents higher at 5.30 rupees attracting most number of trades during the day.

Foreigners bought 235 million rupees worth shares while selling 250 million rupees of shares.

Ceylon Tobacco Company closed 17.80 rupees higher at 1,140.80 rupees and JKH closed 3.10 rupees higher at 220.50 rupees, contributing most to the index gain.

JKH’s W0022 warrants closed 2.90 rupees higher at 67.70 rupees and it’s W0023 warrants closed 2.90 rupees higher at 79.80 rupees.

Carson Cumberbatch closed flat at 350.00 rupees and Bukit Darah closed 4.40 rupees higher at 618.90 rupees.

Nestle Lanka closed flat at 2,118.90 rupees and Hayleys closed 10 cents higher at 292.90 rupees.

Distilleries closed 2.10 rupees higher at 192.10 rupees and Cargills Ceylon closed 50 cents lower at 148.00 rupees.

Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings closed 10 cents higher at 66.90 rupees and Asian Hotels and Properties closed 1.00 rupee higher at 63.40 rupees.

Sri Lanka Telecom closed 30 cents higher at 37.00 rupees and Lanka Orix Leasing Company closed 80 cents lower at 75.50 rupees.

NDB closed 3.50 rupees higher at 160.00 rupees and DFCC also closed 3.50 rupees higher at 126.00 rupees.

HNB closed 50 cents higher at 142.00 rupees and Commercial Bank closed 1.00 rupee higher at 120.00 rupees.
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COLOMBO, Dec 19 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan stocks jumped to their six-week closing high on Thursday, led by John Keells Holdings after the government approved a mixed-development project of the market heavyweight, stockbrokers said.

The main stock index gained 0.95 percent, or 55.24 points, to 5,867, its highest close since Nov. 7.

Shares in Keells gained 1.43 percent at 220.50 rupees.

Sri Lanka on Tuesday approved Keells' $850 million Water Front project that will also include casino to woo high-end tourists.

'The approval and the fall in interest rates have helped boost sentiment,' a stockbroker said.

Analysts said the market could witness a rally in the near future as the possibility of retail investors returning to risky assets is increasing due to falling interest rates.

Yields in 91-day and 182-day treasury bills dropped 12 basis points and 29 bps, respectively, at a weekly auction on Wednesday, while 364-day T-bill yield fell 62 bps. All T-bill yields fell to more than two-year lows.

Foreign investors sold a net 14.4 million rupees worth of shares on Thursday, but the bourse has witnessed a net foreign inflows of 22.54 billion rupees so far this year.

The day's turnover was 567.4 million rupees ($4.34 million), lower than this year's daily average of 835.6 million rupees.

($1 = 130.8000 Sri Lanka rupees)

(Reporting by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

(shihar.aneez@thomsonreuters.com)(+94-11-232-5540)

(Reuters Messaging: shihar.aneez.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net twitter.com/shiharaneez)
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casino effect

The Colombo bourse looked up yesterday on a turnover of Rs.567.4 million, down from the previous day’s Rs.592.6 million, with both indices gaining tidily – the All Share by 55.24 points (0.95%) and S&P SL20 by 32.75 points (1.03%) with 166 gainers comfortably ahead of 32 losers while 122 counters closed flat.

"Ceylon Tobacco where 5,300 shares were traded closing at Rs.1,140.80 gaining Rs.17.80 influenced the upward movement of the indices," a broker said. "At one point the share hit a peak of Rs.1,159 although no big parcels were done."

"Advances outweighed declines by more than 5:1 at market close, pushing the ASPI sharply higher. Market turnover was dominated by block trades on LLUB, JKH, and DIAL, while retail activity was led by trades on banking and diversified counters," John Keells Stock Brokers said in their market report.

Foreign selling was slightly ahead of buying with purchases of Rs. 235.64 million against sales of Rs. 250.05 million leading to a small outflow of Rs.14.41 million.

Crossings in Chevron, JKH and Dialog contributed Rs.171.5 million to the day’s turnover with Chevron seeing a parcel of nearly 0.4 million shares crossed at Rs.265 contributing Rs.99.1 million to turnover; JKH a parcel of 100,000 shares crossed at Rs.220 (Rs.22 million) and Dialog a parcel of 5.6 million crossed at Rs.9 (Rs.50.4 million).

Apart from the crossings, Commercial Bank (voting) continued to see demand with over 0.4 million shares done closing Re.1 up at Rs.120 trading between Rs.118 and Rs.120 contributing Rs.51.9 million topping the floor trades.

JKH closed Rs.4.60 up on the floor at Rs.222 on nearly 0.2 million shares done between Rs.218.50 and Rs.222 generating a turnover of Rs.40.8 million while Sampath Bank closed Rs.3.30 up at Rs.171.40 on over 0.2 million shares done between Rs.167.40 and Rs.171.50 contributing Rs.39.9 million to turnover.

Several large parcels of Dialog were done on the floor with nearly 4 million shares traded. The counter closed flat at Rs.9 contributing Rs.35.7 million trading at Rs.9 (high and low).

Nearly all most traded stocks posted price gains with HNB closing 50 cents up at Rs.142 on over 0.2 million shares, NDB closing Rs.3.50 up at Rs.160 on over 0.1 million shares and Aitken Spence closing 20 cents up at Rs.102 on over 0.1 million shares.

JKH warrants W0022 closed Rs.3.10 up at Rs.67.90 on slightly over 0.2 million while Expolanka gained 10 cents to close at Rs.7.50 on 0.8 million shares, People’s Leasing closed 20 cents up at Rs.14 on over 0.5 million shares and Janashakthi closed 20 cents up at Rs.12.50 on over 0.6 million shares.

Asian Hotel Properties announced an interim dividend of Re.1 per share for 2013/14, XD from Dec. 30 and with payment on Jan. 10.

Chevron announced a fourth interim dividend of Rs.4.50 per share for 2013 XD from Dec. 30 and with payment on Jan. 9 while Bukit Darah announced a first interim dividend of Rs.3 per share for 2013/14, XD from Dec. 30 and with payment on Jan. 6.

CT Land announced an interim dividend of Rs.1.10 per share for 2013/14, XD from Dec. 30 and with payment on Jan. 7.
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