Wednesday Nov 06, 2024
FT
Wednesday Nov 06, 2024
Tuesday, 28 September 2021 02:11 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The Colombo stock market yesterday catapulted to a new high in terms of price indices, turnover and volume on the back of improved sentiment triggering strong buying.
The All Share Price Index shot up by 3.7% or over 329 points and the S&P SL20 rose by 2% or 68 points. Turnover was Rs. 6.7 billion with 202.7 million shares traded. Year-to-date (YTD) ASPI is up 36.8% and S&P SL20 higher by 29.5%.
Whilst locals were bullish, foreigners seized the opportunity to exit with net selling (mainly in JKH), amounting to Rs. 723 million, which pushed the YTD net outflow above Rs. 44 billion.
First Capital said the bourse extended its bull run of the previous week with an intraday gain of a seven-and-a-half-month high, stirring up the index to surpass the 9,000 psychological level, while recording a turnover at a two-week high.
“Index opened on a strong uptrend and remained on a rise with minimum volatility as optimistic investors displayed perceptible buying interest. The market continued its positive thrust throughout the session and hit an intraday high of 9,306 towards the latter part of the session before closing for the day at 9,270,” First Capital added.
It said turnover was led by a joint contribution of 59% from the Transportation and Capital Goods sectors.
Asia Securities said the market turned buoyant on the first day of the week with the ASPI surpassing the 9,000 level and recording its biggest single-day gain in the last seven months (330 points) to reach a three-week high, led by price gains in index-heavy LOLC group companies and EXPO.
It said turnover scaled a two-week high as retail and HNI investors engaged in buying momentum-driven stocks on the back of positive cues in the market, after remaining on edge last week.
“Following a strong 174-point gap up, the ASPI surged to 9,114 at the market open and sustained the upbeat momentum throughout the session to touch the 9,300 mark before stabilising towards the end of the session,” said Asia, adding that leading the surge in the ASPI, CLC contributed around 126 points to the index, followed by EXPO (60 points), LOLC (44 points), and NIFL (37 points).
It said retail and HNI buying in EXPO boosted activity, while JKH contributed significantly to turnover, supported by institutional and HNI buying in the stock. Overall, 102 stocks witnessed price gains and 85 stocks settled with price losses.
Asia also said net foreign buying topped in CIC.X at Rs. 7.3 million while net foreign selling topped in JKH at Rs. 676.2 million. Crossings accounted for 15% of turnover with 11 crossings recorded in JKH (Rs. 771.2 million), one crossing each in Sampath (Rs. 182.2 million) Lanka Milk Foods (Rs. 45 million) and Nestlé (Rs. 20 million).
