"It was a disaster" Prashan Fernando of Acuity Stockbrokers said. "It is difficult to predict where we are headed. The fall was less sharp till the 6,000 point resistant level was reached. After that was breached the market went down rapidly on panic mode."
He said that there was some selective picking of some blue chip stock by investors who saw bargains.
JKH was the top business generator closing flat at Rs.175 on nearly 3.4 million shares traded between Rs.174.40 and Rs.175 contributing Rs.589.9 million to turnover. Two JKH parcels of 500,000 each were crossed at Rs.175, brokers said.
Blue chip banking stock like HNB, Sampath and Commercial Bank were among the losers with HNB down Rs.10.30 to close at Rs.155 on nearly 0.6 million shares, Sampath down Rs.3.10 to close at Rs.200 on 0.15 million shares and Commercial Bank down Rs.1.40 to close at Rs.100 on over 0.2 million shares.
Some speculative stock like Colombo Land (down Rs.6.30 to Rs.44.50 on nearly 2.6 million shares), HVA (down Rs.4.30 to Rs.32.40 on nearly 1.3 million shares), Orient Garments (down Rs.1.10 to close at Rs.34 on over 1.1 million shares) and Panasian Power (down 20 cents to Rs.3.90 on nearly 6 million shares) were in the red on sizeable share volumes.
Peoples Leasing commenced trading yesterday closing at the IPO issue price of Rs.18 on nearly 4.4 million shares traded with the counter opening at Rs.18.10, going up to Rs.18.30 and hitting a low of Rs.17 before all available quantities were mopped up between Rs.17.90 and Rs.18.10 minutes before trading closed.
Central Finance announced a first interim dividend of 70 cents per share for 2011/12 XD from Dec.5 and payment on Dec 14 and HNB announced an interim dividend of Rs.1.50 per share for 2011 XD from Dec.2 with payment on Dec. 12.
On’ally Holdings announced an interim dividend of Re.1 per share for 2011/12 XD from Dec. 2 and payment on Dec. 13 and Asia Capital announced an interim dividend of Rs.6.95 per share for 2011/12 XD from Dec. 2 and payment on Dec. 13.
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