New foreign fund enters NTB as Sharma, SLIC exit

A new foreign fund and a few existing ones along with local institutional investors figured on the buying side of Nations Trust Bank (NTB) last week as Umar Sharma and Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation (SLIC) exited.

NTB saw 24 million of its shares traded for Rs. 1.4 billion last week. The new fund, HWIC Asia, an investment vehicle which primarily invests in foreign equities, bought the bulk – around 20 million shares or 9% stake of NTB on Thursday whilst Umar Sharma and son Sandesh sold 20.4 million shares collectively.

Of the latter, a block of 1.5 million shares was bought by a local institutional investor for Rs. 87 million on Wednesday.

SLIC’s Life and General fund also exited by divesting Rs. 80 million worth of NTB shares, with Arc Capital collecting a block worth Rs. 60 million of NTB shares. Employees Trust Fund, which has a 1.1% stake, was also seen further collecting NTB shares. The share closed the week at Rs. 60, down by one rupee.

Another banking sector stock, Union Bank, also figured among heavily traded league with 14.5 million of its shares done for Rs. 291 million. A foreign investor from Singapore picked up the bulk of the quantity including 5.5 million shares worth Rs. 110 million from a local institutional investor.



Union Bank saw net foreign buying of 6.5 million shares worth Rs. 145 million.

Sampath Bank saw 2.5 million of its shares traded for Rs. 577 million. Interestingly, Capital Trust Partners bought Rs. 100 million worth of Sampath Bank shares from Shankar Somasunderam whilst Captains figured on both the buying and selling side of Sampath.

Premier blue chip JKH, which continues to be the darling of foreign investors, saw net foreign buying of Rs. 625 million (2.5 million shares). At JKH too, SLIC sold nearly Rs. 200 million worth of shares whilst buying came from a host of existing foreign funds.