CSE begins Vesak week negatively

The Colombo stock market began a fresh but shortened trading week on account of Vesak holidays on a bearish note amidst lacklustre local investor interest.

Both indices declined by 0.6%. Turnover slumped to a recent low of Rs. 1 billion involving 54 million shares.

The dip yesterday was despite Friday seeing a rebound ending multiple days of decline.

Asia Securities said the market commenced the week on a downbeat note amidst moderate investor activity. Price losses in LOFC (-4.5%), LOLC (-3.3%), CCS (-3.0%) and RCL (-2.5%) weighed on the indices. JINS (-22.6%) saw a sharp price loss during the session.

LOLC (-11 points), COMBN (-6 points), and JINS (-5 points) came in as the biggest laggards on the ASPI.

Turnover was led by SAMP (Rs. 96 million), DIPD (Rs. 85 million), and HAYL (Rs. 73 million).

Asia also said foreigners recorded a net inflow of Rs. 24.6 million. Net foreign buying topped in ACL at Rs. 25.6 million and selling topped in BIL at Rs. 9.4 million.

First Capital said the broader market experienced a volatile trading day, with both indices closing in red, influenced by the lingering uncertainties in both the local and global environment. The bourse commenced the week with a bearish note, echoing the uncertainties from the previous week by closing the index at 12,235, losing 85 points (-0.69%) while bouncing back from its intraday low of 12,174. LOLC, COMB, JINS, RCL and CFIN contributed to the index negatively, out shadowing the contribution from the less number of positive contributors. 

Turnover fell to a two-month low and was 57% down from the month’s average of Rs. 2.5 billion amidst the active participation of the retail investors. Capital Goods sector led turnover at 21%, evident by improvement in Purchasing Managers’ Index for month of April, followed by the Banking and Food, Beverage and Tobacco sectors jointly contributing to 33% of overall turnover while most of the sectors witnessed declines.

NDB Securities said high net worth and institutional investor participation was noted in Sampath Bank, Hatton National Bank and Lanka IOC. Mixed interest was observed in Dipped Products, Hayleys and Browns Investments whilst retail interest was noted in LVL Energy Fund rights, LOLC Finance and Renuka Agri Foods rights.

The Capital Goods sector was the top contributor to the market turnover (due to Hayleys) whilst the sector index lost 0.14%. The share price of Hayleys moved up by 30 cents to Rs. 92.70.

The Banking sector was the second highest contributor to the market turnover (due to Sampath Bank) whilst the sector index decreased by 0.52%. The share price of Sampath Bank increased by 10 cents to Rs. 78.

Dipped Products, Browns Investments and Lanka IOC were also included amongst the top turnover contributors. The share price of Dipped Products gained 80 cents to Rs. 34.30. The share price of Browns Investments recorded a loss of 10 cents to Rs. 6.30. The share price of Lanka IOC declined by 75 cents to Rs. 131.75.