Stock market rebounds

The Colombo stock market bounced back yesterday ending multiple days of declines though investors were hardly active judging by low turnover. 

The All-Share Price Index gained by 1.2% and the S&P SL20 improved by 1.5%. Turnover was Rs. 981.3 million involving 47.7 million shares.

Asia Securities said following three sessions of losses, the ASPI returned to positive territory on supported by price gains in EXPO (+6.9%), LOLC (+9.7%), BIL (+13.2%), LOFC (+16.1%), HAYL (+4.7%) and MELS (+4.1%). 

“The index commenced the session on an upbeat note, surpassing the 7,500 mark with a sharp gap-up of 100 points and touched an intra-day high of 7,587 (+160 points) in the first hour of trading. The ASPI subsequently witnessed a bout of stabilisation and wrapped up the session at 7,517 (+89 points),” Asia said.

Turnover was led by EXPO (Rs. 365 million), BIL (Rs. 101 million) and COMB (Rs. 99 million). The breadth of the market turned positive with 94 price gainers and 85 decliners.

Asia also said foreigners recorded a net outflow of Rs. 7.1 million while their participation stood at 1.4% of turnover (previous day 12.1%). Net foreign buying topped in NDB at Rs. 2.2 million while net foreign selling topped in CTHR at Rs. 9.4 million.

First Capital said the Bourse thrived back to the green territory after a back to back fall since the beginning of the last week amidst the speculation on possible resolving of the political deadlock. “Regardless of the ongoing macroeconomic concerns, the index gained nearly 100 points within the first few minutes of the session as investors began bargain hunting following the price declines.

Afterwards, the market moved on a positive note with slight volatility but traded in the green zone throughout the session. The market managed to recover 45% of the last week’s losses in today’s session while closing the day at 7,516, gaining 89 points,” First Capital said.

It added that turnover was led by a joint contribution of 55% from Transportation and Food, Beverage and Tobacco sectors. NDB Securities said high net worth and institutional investor participation remained subdued for the day. Mixed interest was observed in Commercial Bank, Royal Ceramics and Lanka IOC, whilst retail interest was noted in Browns Investments, LOLC Finance and Expolanka Holdings.

It said the transportation sector was the top contributor to the market turnover (due to Expolanka Holdings), whilst the sector index gained 6.89%. The share price of Expolanka Holdings increased by Rs. 10.50 (7.09%) to close at Rs. 158.50.

Food, Beverage and Tobacco sector was the second highest contributor to the market turnover (due to Browns Investments), whilst the sector index increased by 2.11%. The share price of Browns Investments gained 50 cents (9.26%) to close at Rs. 5.90.

Commercial Bank, LOLC Finance and Royal Ceramics were also included amongst the top turnover contributors. The share price of Commercial Bank moved down by Rs. 1.30 (2.53%) to close at Rs. 50.10. The share price of LOLC Finance recorded a gain of 80 cents (14.04%) to close at Rs. 6.50. The share price of Royal Ceramics appreciated by Rs. 2 (7.17%) to close at Rs. 29.90.