YTD net foreign inflow tops Rs. 4 b mark at CSE; locals positive

The Colombo stock market yesterday saw year to date net foreign inflow cross the Rs. 4 billion mark whilst locals remained positive with activity levels improving ahead of the IMF Executive Board meeting on support for Sri Lanka.

The benchmark ASPI gained by over 29 points or 0.3% and the active S&P SL20 inched by over 11 points or 0.4%. Turnover was Rs. 1.8 billion involving 98.7 million shares.

Foreigners recorded a net inflow of Rs. 162.2 million thereby boosting the YTD figure to over Rs. 4 billion and so far in March to Rs. 791 million.

Net foreign buying topped in JKH at Rs. 42.4 million and selling topped in DIAL.N at Rs. 13 million.

Turnover was led by HHL (Rs. 236 million), BIL (Rs. 209 million), and JKH (Rs. 127 million).

Crossings accounted for 16.7% of turnover with 3 crossings recorded in HHL (Rs. 199.2 million), 2 crossings in HAYL (Rs. 59.8 million) and 1 crossing in JKH (Rs. 42.1 million).

Asia Securities said the indices closed in green for a fifth consecutive session on Monday supported by price gains in LOLC group stocks BIL (+7.8%), LOFC (+7.8%), BRWN (+3.3%), and LOLC (+2.9%) while AEL (+6.0%), DIST (+4.6%), and TKYOX continued to witness retail collection during the session. Meanwhile, LHCL (+4.0%), and SLTL (+6.8%) gathered positive momentum as investors took cues from the companies’ announcement on receiving the “Approval in Principle” granted by the Cabinet of Ministers for the divestment of the major shareholding in these companies.

On the contrary, SCAP (-1.6%), SAMP (-1.6%), LWL (-13.0%), DIAL (-2.9%), ALUM (-1.1%), and COMBN (-1.1%) closed in red. BIL (+13 points) came in as the biggest contributor to the ASPI, followed by LOFC (+8 points), and LOLC (+7 points). The breadth of the market was positive with 100 price gainers and 82 decliners.

First Capital said the Index reached an intraday high of 9,758 and closed the day at 9,700 gaining 30 points with high retail participation. The market remained volatile during the day and showcased lacklustre sentiment with investors mostly on the side-lines ahead of the IMF discussion.

COMB and AEL remained the top contributors to the index during the morning session as the board approval of the IMF program would unlock additional financing from multilateral agencies and resume the halted construction projects. The LOLC group and its subsidiaries including BIL and LOFC witnessed renewed investor interests towards the end of the day and were the biggest contributors to the ASPI gain.

NDB Securities said high net worth and institutional investor participation was noted in Hemas Holdings, Hayleys and John Keells Holdings. Mixed interest was observed in Access Engineering, Expolanka Holdings and Sri Lanka Telecom whilst retail interest was noted in Browns Investments, LOLC Finance and Union Bank.

The Capital Goods sector was the top contributor to the market turnover (due to Hemas Holdings, John Keells Holdings, Hayleys and Access Engineering) whilst the sector index edged up by 0.08%. The share price of Hemas Holdings decreased by Rs. 2.60 to Rs. 65.40. The share price of John Keells Holdings moved up by one rupee to Rs. 145. The share price of Hayleys closed flat at Rs. 81. The share price of Access Engineering appreciated by 90 cents (6%) to Rs. 15.90.

The Food, Beverage & Tobacco sector was the second highest contributor to the market turnover (due to Browns Investments) whilst the sector index increased by 1.83%. The share price of Browns Investments gained 50 cents (7.81%) to Rs. 6.90.