Most brokers’ market reports silent on Friday meeting with President

Perhaps after having spoken much, most of the brokers’ market reports yesterday were silent on Friday’s meeting with President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Only Asia Wealth referred to it whilst several others purely commented on the happenings in the market.

“The Colombo Bourse didn’t see any turn around today followed by the much-awaited presidential meeting that was held last Friday. Even though the contentious issues for the prolonged bearish market were discussed at the forum, the deliberations or the outcome have not been clearly stated yet,” Asia Wealth said in its daily report. “Further, positive news such as country receiving the IMF final tranche of US$ 415 m coupled with the oversubscription of US$ 1 b sovereign bond, have not made any changes in the investors’ mind as they continue to be on a sideline,” it added.

Reports of other brokers such as NDB Stockbrokers, DNH Financial, SC Securities, and Softlogic Stockbrokers were silent or didn’t express an opinion on whether Friday’s meeting had any bearing on the market for better or worse.

DNH Financial said investors continued to shy away from the market as it opened a fresh week on a negative note, whilst Softlogic said the Bourse returned to its negative mode with activity levels struggling to keep the market alive.  

However, it said the approval of the final tranche of the IMF loan was a positive sign for the economy. Coupled with it, the US$ 1 billion sovereign bond and extended IMF program under discussion are likely to improve investor sentiment and create stability in the economy.

“However, the prevailing high interest rates are likely to be the biggest barrier at the moment. Therefore we reiterate to our valued clients that though the market is at an attractive level, accumulation should be done on a cautious note, identifying value counters,” Softlogic Stockbrokers said.