EPF active in sluggish bourse

Wednesday, 29 June 2011 01:36 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Buys 2% of Central Finance, one million Aitken Spence shares

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is active in the Colombo stock market amidst bearish sentiments, picking up strategic blocks of select companies.

Yesterday EPF is believed to have picked up a majority of Central Finance shares whilst on Monday it bought 1.14 million Aitken Spence and Company shares.

Central Finance saw around 450,000 of its shares trade for Rs. 628 million, accounting for the highest turnover for the day. It peaked to a high of Rs. 1,420 before closing at Rs. 1,400, up by Rs. 9.40.

The volume traded amount to a 2.2% stake of Central Finance, whilst sellers included individual and institutional investors. Perpetual Capital of Arjun Aloysius fame holds an 11% stake in Central Finance.

On Monday EPF bought 1.14 million Spence shares, of which one million was done at Rs. 135 per share. As at 31 March 2011, EPF’s stake in Spence was 4.17%, but it had picked up few more blocks later on. Yesterday’s quantity was a mere 0.3% stake.

Renuka Consultants had also picked up one million shares of Spence on Monday. Sellers were Carson Cumberbatch Group firms Ceylon Guardian Investment and Ceylon Investments.

Deals on 2.237 million shares of Spence produced the highest turnover of Rs. 302 million on Tuesday.

It was the first time in recent weeks that EPF had picked up Spence shares, whereas of late it had been aggressively collecting available quantities of subsidiary Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings. The previous major block bought was one million shares for Rs. 78 million early this month on top of one million in May. As at mid-June, EPF’s stake in Spence Hotel Holdings was over 6%.