Sri Lanka stocks surge 1.2-pct

Jan 08, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka stocks surged 1.2 percent higher Wednesday as interest rates continued to fall, extending gains from a day earlier, brokers said.

The Colombo benchmark All Share Price Index closed 77.40 points higher at 6,054.47, up 1.29 percent. The S&P SL20 closed 49.86 points higher at 3,350.31, up 1.51 percent.

Turnover was 849.52 million rupees, up from 716.25 million rupees a day earlier, with 178 firms closing up in broad-based rally with only 38 firms retreating.

Treasuries fell around 50 basis points at a weekly auction ahead of a billion US dollar sovereign fund raising by the government.

Foreign investor favourite John Keells Holdings topped the turnover list with deals of 149.41 million rupees contributing to 18 percent of total turnover today.

JKH closed 7.20 rupees higher at 235.00 rupees and Ceylon Tobacco Company closed 8.10 rupees higher at 1,206.30 rupees, contributing most to the index gain.

JKH’s W0022 warrants closed 4.20 rupees higher at 89.10 rupees and its W0023 warrants closed 3.10 rupees higher at 96.30 rupees.

Commercial Bank closed 1.70 rupees higher at 124.60 rupees with an off market transaction of 63.54 million rupees contributing to 7 percent of turnover.

The Finance Company closed 1.50 rupees higher at 12.20 rupees, attracting most number of trades during the day.

Foreigners bought 280 million rupees worth shares while selling 65 million rupees of shares.

Distilleries closed 5.00 rupees higher at 200.00 rupees and Cargills Ceylon closed 5.40 rupees higher at 148.60 rupees.

Nestle Lanka closed 11.20 rupees higher at 2,126.20 rupees and Bukit Darah closed 4.20 rupees higher at 620.00 rupees.

Ceylinco Insurance closed flat at 1,300.00 rupees and Lanka Orix Leasing Company closed 80 cents lower at 71.20 rupees.

Aitken Spence closed 2.10 rupees higher at 106.00 rupees and Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings closed 2.30 rupees higher at 68.70 rupees.

Carson Cumberbatch closed 2.00 rupees lower at 355.00 rupees and Lion Brewery closed 9.90 rupees higher at 374.90 rupees.

Sri Lanka Telecom closed 10 cents lower at 37.50 rupees and Dialog Axiata closed 10 cents higher at 9.10 rupees.

Asian Hotels and Properties closed 70 cents higher at 64.80 rupees and Commercial Leasing and Finance closed 10 cents lower at 3.80 rupees.

HNB closed 1.20 rupees higher at 151.00 rupees and Sampath Bank closed 1.60 rupees higher at 172.00 rupees.

DFCC closed 5.30 rupees higher at 140.10 rupees.
WWW.LBO.LK

Source:JBS

Nice to see foreign interest with blue chips though some backward moves with SAMP,JKH warrants...

The Colombo bourse benchmark index gained 77.40 points (+1.3%) on Wednesday, crossing the psychological level of 6,000, to close at 20-week high of 6,054.47. The S&P SL 20 index also gained 49.86 points to close at 3,350.31 (+1.5%). The shares gathered momentum across the board as the treasury yields declined further in today’s auction.

12m T-Bill rate at 27-month low
The interest rates on the treasuries fell across all maturities in today’s auction. The 12 month interest rate dropped by 53bps to 7.4% - the lowest since October 2011. 3-month and 6-month rates declined to 7.0% (-42bps) and 7.2%(-33bps) respectively.

Of a total of 272 active counters in the session, 207 ended in the positive territory, 35 in the negative zone, while 30 companies remained unchanged. The cash-map improved to 63%.

Price appreciations in index-heavy stocks such as John Keells Holdings (LKR 234.40,+2.9%), Distilleries (LKR 200.00,+2.6%), Commercial Bank (LKR 123.00,+0.1%) and Hatton National Bank (LKR 151.00,+0.8%) contributed positively to the index performance.

Ceylon Tobacco closed at LKR 1,200.00, up by 0.2%. Tomorrow is the XD date of CTC’s fourth interim dividend of LKR 5.10.

Share prices of NDB and DFCC also increased notably in todays’ trading session. NDB closed at LKR 171.00,+2.8% while DFCC closed at LKR 140.00,+3.9%.

The top contributor to the market turnover: JKH
The market turnover was LKR 850mn. John Keells Holdings made the largest contribution to the day’s turnover (LKR 172mn) while Commercial Bank and Hatton National Bank contributed LKR 104mn and LKR 60mn respectively. Three crossings in Commercial Bank (0.5mn shares at LKR 125.00), Hatton National Bank (0.4mn shares at LKR 151.00) and John Keells Holdings (0.1mn shares at LKR 230.00) contributed a total of LKR 141mn to the market turnover (17%).

Heavily traded stocks: TFC and UBC
The Finance Co voting and non-voting shares were heavily traded today and TFC – nonvoting share closed at LKR 5.10,+24.4% while TFC – voting share closed at LKR 12.30,+15%. Shares of Union Bank (UBC) and Expo Lanka (EXPO) continued to attract investor interest. UBC reached a high of LKR 18.40 and closed at LKR 18.20,+2.8% while EXPO closed at LKR 8.30,+2.5%. EXPO has gained considerably during the recent period and the RSI of the share has now reached 83.

CIC among top gainers
According to media reports, government has already completed the payment of LKR 6.6bn which was due to the private sector companies (including CIC Holdings and Agstar Fertilizers) for the implementation of fertilizer subsidy program. CIC was the sixth largest gainer today and share closed at LKR 56.90,+14.%. CIC – nonvoting share closed at LKR 41.60,+8%. Agstar closed at LKR 5.00,+4.1%.

Fourth consecutive days of net foreign inflows
Foreign investors were net buyers of LKR 216mn worth of shares and foreign participation accounted for 20% of the market activity. Foreign net inflows were reported in blue-chips such as John Keells Holdings (LKR 112mn), Hatton National Bank (LKR 59mn) and Commercial Bank (LKR 21mn) while net outflows were reported in counters such as John Keells Holdings–warrant 23 (LKR 7mn) and warrant 22 (LKR 5mn).

Biggest single day gain in recent past

The Colombo bourse surged yesterday with the All Share Price Index gaining 77.40 points (1.29%) and S&P SL20 up 49.86 points (1.51%) on a turnover of Rs.849.5 million, up from the previous day’s Rs.716.3 million, with 206 gainers leaving 35 losers limping while 79 counters closed flat.

The ASPI closed at 6,054.47 points crossing the 6,000-point barrier below which it slumped some weeks ago when the Bears dominated

"We had such a good day after a very long time," a broker said. "I can’t remember the last time we had a single day gain as big as this."

``The market crossed the 6,000 mark for the first time since late August 2013, on the back of renewed retail buying interest across the board. Activity levels were mainly centered on banking, finance and diversified counters with crossings on COMB, HNB and JKH accounting for only 16.5% of turnover," John Keells stock Brokers said in a market report.

Foreigners were net buyers to the tune of Rs. 215.41 million with purchases of Rs. 280.7 million outpacing sales of Rs. 65.29 million.

Rs.140.8 million of the day’s turnover came off block trades in three counters -JKH where 100,000 shares were done at Rs.230 (turnover of Rs.23 million), over 0.5 million Commercial Bank (voting) at Rs.125 (Rs.63.5 million) and nearly 0.4 million HNB (voting) at Rs.151 (Rs.54.2 million).

JKH led the floor trades with over 0.6 million shares done closing Rs.6.60 up at Rs.234.40 with the share trading between Rs.227 and Rs.235 contributing Rs.149.4 million to turnover.

JKH warrants too were active with W0022 closing Rs.3.10 up at Rs.88 on 0.4 million and W0023 closing Rs.2.30 up at Rs.95.50 on over 0.1 million.

Commercial Bank (voting) demonstrated continued buying interest closing 10 cents up at Rs.123 on over 0.3 million shares done between Rs.122 and Rs.125 generating a turnover of Rs.30.4 million while Sampath Bank closed Rs.2.60 up at Rs.173 on over 0.2 million shares done between Rs.170.10 and Rs.173 contributing Rs.37.6 million to turnover.

There was heavy trading on The Finance, both voting and non-voting, with the voting share closing Rs.1.60 up at Rs.12.30 on nearly 2.6 million shares done while the non-voting share closed Re.1 up at Rs.5.10 on over 5.6 million shares.

Expolanka continued to attract volume closing 20 cents up at Rs.8.30 on 2.7 million shares and Textured Jersey closed 30 cents up at Rs.16 on nearly 0.1 million shares.

Union Bank continued to rise closing 50 cents up at Rs.18.20 on over 0.8 million shares with speculation on a possible acquisition of a stake in the bank by a foreign investor.

Brokers said that with interest rates falling, funds that had been invested in Treasury Bills was now coming into the market and was optimistic that the market would perform with this impetus.
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