Stocks continued its upward momentum tapering off the trend established a week before lasting until Thursday and net foreign buying too moved in tandem during the week.
On Monday, the ASPI gained 22.33 points to close at 4,949.46, while the Milanka gained 19.83 points to close at 4,569.85 and the S&P index gained 7.23 points to close at 2,799.31. Total turnover for the day stood at Rs.1.7 billion whilst the volume traded for the day was 95.9m. Top contributors to turnover were Asiri Hospital with Rs.611.7Mn, Asha Central with Rs.604.3Mn and Lion Breweries at Rs. 276.3Mn. Most active counters for the day were York Arcade, Tess Agro and Raigam Wayamba Salt. The day’s activities have shown a high volume and turnover levels resulting from major crossings in selective counters such as Asiri Central 2,414,583 shares at Rs.250.00, Lion Brewery 869,900 shares at Rs.230.00, Ceylon Brewery 283,400 shares at Rs.310.00, Central Finance 180,000 shares at Rs.129.00. Foreign purchases amounted to Rs.984.2mn, whilst foreign sales amounted to Rs.4.0mn. Foreign participation was 55.8% of total market turnover and foreigners were net buyers of Rs. 980Mn. John Keells Holdings announced that Fitch Ratings affirmed JKH’s National long-term rating at AAA (lka) rating with a ‘Stable’ outlook which may have fuelled price increases witnessed during the week.
On Tuesday, the market was on a mixed note with the ASPI losing 4.33 points to close at 4945.13 and the Milanka gained 25.07 points to close at 4594.92. The S&P index declined 3.69 points to close at 2795.62. The total turnover registered during the day was Rs.366.9 Mn and the volume traded was 21.1 Mn. Top contributing counters in terms of turnover for the day were Lion Brewery at Rs. 59.8Mn, John Keells Holdings at Rs. 52.2Mn and PC House at Rs. 52.1Mn. Most active counters for the day were Richard Peiris, First Capital Holdings and York Arcade. Foreign participation as a percentage of turnover stood at 34% of total market turnover and foreigners were net buyers at Rs. 108.2Mn.
A strong bout of buying was witnessed on Wednesday with the ASPI gaining 82.27 points to close at 5,027.40, Milanka gained 99.07 points to close at 4,693.99 and the S&P index gained by 36.08 points to close at 2,831.70. Turnover was Rs. 783.2Mn. The Top contributor to total turnover was Aitken Spence achieving Rs.133.2Mn, and the stock closed at Rs.110.70. Apart from that, rest of the market activity was mainly driven by several crossings from among fundamentally sound counters such as JKH (404,790 shares at 199.40), Chevron Lubricants (469,000 shares at Rs.180.00). Central Finance Company was also among top contributors to turnover with as many as 193,000 shares being traded at Rs.130.00. Most active counters for the day were Browns Investments, ACME and First Capital Holdings. Foreign participation was 46% of the total market turnover and foreigners were net buyers at Rs.192Mn. On the cards is the listing of 260.0mn ordinary voting shares of Asia Siyaka Commodities by way of an Introduction. At the T-Bill auctions, 3-month remained unchanged at 11.36%. while the 6 months and 12-months increased by 7 bp and 4 bp respectively.
On Thursday, the ASPI moved up by 10.75 points to 5,038 while the Milanka slid marginally by 1.17 points to close at 4692.8. The turnover recorded during the day was Rs.634 million for the day. JKH emerged with the highest turnover, transacting 1.1m shares with a closing price of Rs.199.00. Lion Brewery, Sampath, CFIN and Commercial Bank were other shares which also had high levels of turnover being achieved. Colombo Fort Investments, Colombo Investment Trust and Property Development PLC were among the shares which recorded high gains during the day.
Both the ASPI & Milanka lost 25 and 56 points respectively during Friday’s trading, by the close of the week. Despite turnover on Friday being the lowest for the week, average turnover of the week stood at Rs.762.8 Mn which was much higher than the previous week. Even on Friday, the shares of JKH recorded the highest turnover closing at Rs.195.00. Among other active shares, Distilleries closed at Rs.120.00, Commercial Bank closed at Rs.103.00 and CIC closed at Rs.68.00. Throughout the week, the shares of Sampath transacted in the price range of Rs.163.00 to Rs.179.00, and finally settled at a price level of Rs.175.90 by the close of the week.
(Courtesy: Innovest Investments (Pvt) Ltd – an Investment Management Company licensed by the Securities & Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka)
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