Friday Sep 20, 2024
Friday Sep 20, 2024
Thursday, 11 November 2021 03:09 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Ex-pack Corrugated Cartons Chairman Sattar Kassim rings the bell to inaugurate the Colombo Stock Exchange yesterday in recognition of the company’s debut trading
Corrugated carton industry leader Ex-pack yesterday made a stellar debut with its share price soaring by 198% before settling down up 109% apart from being the most traded.
Coming to the market as the most successful IPO in recent times, Ex-pack (PACK) share price closed at Rs. 17.60, up by 109.5% or Rs. 9.20. However in early trade it shot up to a high of Rs. 25.
PACK saw 75.83 million of its shares change hands via 13,779 trades for Rs. 1.4 billion. It finished its debut day with a market capitalisation of Rs. 5.86 billion. Its IPO was at Rs. 8.40 per share.
First off the board was a parcel of 6.1 million shares of Ex-pack done at Rs. 16 each. Mid-day the price touched a high of Rs. 25 at which level nearly 500,000 shares were done. The last trade was done at Rs. 17.80.
Asia Securities described PACK’s performance as a “stellar debut” grabbing the spotlight ahead of momentum stocks and recorded the highest debut trading day gain from Main Board Listings of 2021.
PACK also boosted the market’s overall sentiment with ASPI rebounding to gain by 161 points or 0.155% and the S&P SL20 improving by 28 points. Turnover was Rs. 5.7 billion involving 364 million shares.
Asia said the market rebounded strongly from prior-day losses yesterday as the ASPI breached the 10,500 mark while the more liquid S&P SL20 index also closed in green supported by price gains in RCL, LOLC, and JKH.
It said following Tuesday’s plunge triggered by momentum-driven stocks, the ASPI witnessed a bout of volatility in the first few minutes of trading in which the index retreated from its gap-up opening to 10,443 (+81 points).
Gaining ground thereupon, the ASPI eased past the 10,400 mark in the first hour of trading and touched a high of 10,509 (+147 points) before witnessing another pullback in the second half of the session. After declining to 10,443 in mid-afternoon trade, the ASPI resumed its upward trajectory and eventually surpassed the 10,500 level to close at 10,523 (+161 points).
“Unlike previous sessions, the surge in the index was a significant broad-based pickup excluding price movements in momentum-driven stocks. The breadth of the market also turned positive with gainers outnumbering decliners by a wide margin of 150 to 61,” Asia added.
It said foreigners recorded a net inflow of Rs. 28 million while their participation remained flat at 0.7% of turnover (previous day 0.8%). Net foreign buying topped in PACK at Rs. 8 million and net selling topped in VPEL at Rs. 3 million.
First Capital said the bourse bounced back to the green zone after a huge fall yesterday while recording a turnover at a healthy level.
“Index opened on a short-lived upswing hitting an intraday low of 10,347 within the first half-hour of trading. Eventually, market boosted up and started trading positively throughout the session despite a temporary setback witnessed during the latter half,” First Capital added.
It said turnover was led by the Materials sector, followed by the Diversified Financials sector, accounting for a joint contribution of 52%.
NDB Securities said the ASPI closed in green as a result of price gains in counters such as Commercial Leasing & Finance, Lanka Orix Finance and LOLC Holdings.
It said high net worth and institutional investor participation was noted in Hatton National Bank Voting and John Keels Holding. Mixed interest was observed in Lanka Orix Finance, R I L Property and Browns Investments, whilst retail interest was noted in Ex-pack Corrugated Cartons, Panasian Power and Shaw Wallace Investments.
Diversified Financials sector was the second highest contributor to the market turnover (due to Lanka Orix Finance and Renuka Capital) whilst the sector index increased by 3.20%. The share price of Lanka Orix Finance gained 80 cents (4.15%) to close at Rs. 20.10.
The share price of Renuka Capital appreciated by Rs. 2 (24.69%) to close at Rs. 10.10. R I L Property and Browns Investments were also included amongst the top turnover contributors. The share price of R I L Property moved up by Rs. 1.20 (10%) to close at Rs. 13.20. The share price of Browns Investments closed flat at Rs. 11.40.
Separately Ceylon Tobacco Company, Watawala Plantations, Distilleries and Melstacorp announced their interim dividends of Rs. 15, Rs. 6, 86 cents and Rs. 2.70 per share respectively.
