No Avurudu for CSE as April sees both indices down

The Colombo Stock Market ended April sans Avurudu cheer with both indices suffering dip for the first time in 2023.

The benchmark ASPI was down by 3.4% and the active S&P SL20 declined by 2.4%. The latter suffered its second consecutive monthly dip whilst for ASPI it was the first decline.

In the first four months of 2023, the ASPI is up 5.81% (as against 9.65% as at end March) and the S&P SL20 is down by 0.68% (as against a gain of 1.8% as at end March).The negative sentiments are largely from locals who got a fresh jolt by President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s remarks in Parliament that he will close down the CSE if it dips sharply. Average daily turnover last week was Rs. 878 million down from Rs. 994 million in the previous week.

The only silver lining remains continued foreign inflow. Year to date net foreign buying was Rs. 1.5 billion with April contributing Rs. 887 million.