Free fall persists at bourse

The Colombo stock market’s free fall continued for the second day though less than on Monday.

The market lost Rs. 14 billion in value yesterday as opposed to Rs. 51 billion the previous day.

“Indices took yet another dip today to settle at new lows, the lowest since January 2011 for ASPI, and September 2010 for MPI. The drop was amidst a continuation of both forced and panic selling,” NDB Stockbrokers said.



Bank, Finance and Insurance sector also contributed significantly to the market turnover (due to Seylan Bank and Swarnamahal Finance). The sector index decreased 1.74%. Seylan Bank closed at Rs. 74.80, having dropped Rs. 2.40 (3.22%). A total of 1,450,223 shares of the bank exchanged hands at Rs. 75 per share.

Accumulation was witnessed in Vallibel One while interest continued in Orient Garments. Vallibel One gained Rs 0.80 (2.73%) and closed at Rs 30.00.

“The market fall continued as SHL debuted on the CSE while activity remained moderate during the day,” John Keells Stock Brokers said.

Asia Wealth Management said the bourse continued its second trading day of the week in the red zone. Thus the benchmark ASI shed by 103.9 points whilst the liquid MPI shed by 109.9 points during the day ended.

Vallibel One snaffled high net worth and retail interest. Orient Garments was purely retail driven and the counter witnessed a price appreciation of 5.3% to close at Rs. 33.90. Meanwhile Seylan Bank saw institutional investor sentiments and a crossing of circa 1,450k at Rs. 75. However, Swarnamahal Financial Services witnessed retail investor sentiments to close the day at Rs. 88.6 with a price appreciation of Rs. 15.4%. Group companies Carsons Cumberbatch and Bukit Darah witnessed crossings of 100.1k at Rs. 200 and 25k at Rs. 1,100 respectively.