CSE remains bearish forcing week to end in red

The Colombo stock market remained bearish for the second consecutive day yesterday forcing the week to close in the red as investor sentiment fumbled despite the Government’s good news of breakthrough with official creditors.

Both indices declined by over 0.3% whilst the benchmark ASPI ended the week down 105 points and the active S&P SL20 by 22 points.

Turnover however doubled on Friday from Thursday to Rs. 2.2 billion involving 59.6 million shares.

Asia Securities said the market remained in red territory on Friday with the ASPI declining to an intra-day low of 12,110 (-44 points) mainly due to price declines in SAMP (-0.8%), BIL (-1.7%), HHL (-1.3%), LIOC (-1.0%), and COMBN (-0.9%).

HAYL (+0.7%), WATA (+0.6%), and NDB (+0.8%) ended in green. CINS (-16 points), MELS (-6 points) and COMB (-6 points) came in as the major draggers during the session.

Turnover on Friday was supported by Rs. 913 million crossings in SAMP, Rs. 126 million in COCO and Rs. 92 million in JKH.

Foreigners recorded a net outflow of Rs. 19.9 million. Net foreign buying topped in TAP at Rs. 7.9 million and selling topped in JKH at Rs. 29.1 million.

First Capital said the broader market experienced a mixed sentiment as uncertainties surrounding the ISB restructuring, and the ambiguous outlook of the upcoming presidential election prompted investors to adopt a cautious stance.

Continuing from Thursday’s decline, ASPI witnessed a lethargic day of trading as prices slowly ticked off across the board.

On a positive note, CFIN saw an increased buying activity in anticipation of ex-dividend date, which is due on 1 July 2024. However, HNB, COMB, and SAMP, along with blue-chip stocks such as MELS and CTC, exerted negative pressure on the index.

Despite muted retail participation, crossings accounted for 51.7% to the overall turnover while 48.4% of the contribution to the overall turnover coming from SAMP, which saw 11.7 million shares traded off-board through 10 crossings at Rs.78, amounting to a stake of 1%.

Banking sector contributed 58.2% to the overall turnover while Capital Goods and Food, Beverage and Tobacco sectors jointly contributed 27.6%.

NDB Securities said crossings were witnessed in Sampath Bank, Renuka Foods, John Keells Holdings and HNB non-voting accounting for 51.7% of the turnover.

Mixed interest was observed in Hayleys, Hatton National Bank and Sunshine Holdings whilst retail interest was noted in Industrial Asphalts, Browns Investments and LVL Energy Fund.

The Banking sector was the top contributor to the market turnover (Sampath Bank and Hatton National Bank) whilst the sector index lost 0.54%. The share price of Sampath Bank decreased by 60 cents to Rs. 78.30. The share price of Hatton National Bank declined by 50 cents to Rs. 202.75.

The Capital Goods sector was the second highest contributor to the market turnover (John Keells Holdings and Hayleys) whilst the sector index edged down by 0.02%. The share price of John Keells Holdings closed flat at Rs. 203.75. The share price of Hayleys recorded a gain of 75 cents to Rs. 106.25. Renuka Foods was also included amongst the top turnover contributors. The share price of Renuka Foods lost 20 cents to Rs. 12.30.