The Colombo bourse closed the week yesterday with all indices down slightly on a turnover of Rs.291.1 million, down from the previous day’s Rs.336.7 million, with 126 gainers outpacing 80 losers while 98 counters closed flat.
Brokers said that downward movement of the indices on what was a slow day was slight – the All Share down 4.54 points (0.09%), the Milanka down 1.44 points (0.03%) and S&P down 7.48 points (0.27%) with a crossing of 575,000 Central Finance at a price of Rs.35 in a deal worth Rs.77.6 million being the major trade.
"We are not sure yet whether there was foreign buying in Central Finance where there was some foreign activity in the last few days," a broker said. ``Overall the market was slow with retailers subdued.’’
JKH saw over 0.1 million shares trading between Rs.179.50 and Rs.182 closing 50 cents down at Rs.179.70 contributing Rs.24.8 million to turnover.
Brokers said that Laugfs which announced a dividend of Rs.1.50 per share on Thursday continued to interest, closing one rupee up at Rs.15.20 on 1.1 million non-voting shares traded between Rs.14.30 and Rs.15.10 generating Rs.16.4 million turnovers.
Blue chips that saw quantity included Carsons down 10 cents to Rs.463 on 31,002 shares, Aitken Spence down 60 cents to Rs.113 on 0.1 million shares, Chevron down a rupee to Rs.169 on 55,845 shares and Central Finance up 30 cents to Rs.127.50 on 42,925 shares done on the floor.
In volume terms HVA saw nearly 1.2 million shares traded between Rs.11.10 and Rs.12.30 closing 60 cents up at Rs.11.60 while Expolanka saw over a million shares traded closing 20 cents up at Rs.6 trading between Rs.5.90 and Rs.6.
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