"The main Index on Friday was up 57 points from the previous day while turnover rose a significant 60%. Retail sentiment revived largely due to Parkson Retail Asia Ltd’s impending strategic transaction in Odel Plc.,’’ it said,
"Foreign investor activity too bounced back this week with net inflows surpassing LKR 0.5bn at the start of the week. Corporate earnings for Q2 2012 meanwhile have begun trickling in and have, so far, been strong. We expect the current momentum to continue into the week ahead.’’
John Keells Stock Brokers noted that ``renewed buying interest centred on large caps led the market to rebound sharply on Friday amid subdued activity levels with JKH, COMB.X, ODEL and CFIN were among most traded counters.’’ Foreign participation resulted in a Rs.526m net-inflow for the week, its weekly market report said.
However there was no word of whether Friday’s dramatic turnaround of the stock market with all three indices gaining sharply and turnover improving was a turnaround point.
With foreigners net buyers on the bourse last week, Acuity noted that the pace of growth of the trade deficit had slowed for the third consecutive month although in cumulative terms it had increased 24.7% Y-o-Y between January-May as imports rose 7.8% and exports fell 5.4%.
"Nevertheless, the latest data indicates that policy measures taken in Q1 2012 have had an impact and that inflows into the services account (tourism earnings up 24.9% Y-o-Y; Worker remittances up 17.7% Y-o-Y1) and capital and financial account have remained robust (FDI’s estimated at USD 437mn1; inflows to CSE increased by USD 187mn.),’’ the report said.
Gross official reserves meanwhile were an equivalent of 3.4 months of imports by end May 2012, and the IMF’s release of the final tranche of the SBA loan along with the proceeds from the country’s latest international sovereign bond are expected to boost official reserves significantly by end July, Acuity reported.
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