Retail participation propped the Colombo bourse last week with turnover topping the billion rupee mark two days running after two weeks of low level activity although the price indices remained volatile, brokers said.
"The SEC’s much-anticipated ruling on the relaxation of broker credit lending and price-band regulation is likely to give market’s direction this week," Acuity Stockbrokers said in a market report.
The brokerage reported that once again both indices had closed the week lower – the ASPI losing a marginal 1.18 points (0.02%) while the Milanka lost 37.06 points (0.73%) with the ASPI at 5,929.34 points remaining below the 6,000 point resistance barrier.
Last week’s turnover was led by Environment Resource Investments (ERI) accounting for 23.67% of the total turnover amid renewed interest in the counters," Acuity said.
New entrant, Asia Asset Finance, along with Commercial Bank contributed 18.37% of the week’s total turnover.
The market report noted that the weekly turnover value of Rs.3.78 billion was almost double (up 95.24%) the previous week’s with the average daily turnover at Rs.756.61 million against the previous week’s average of Rs.387.53 million.
Brokers said that foreigners were continuing to sell Commercial Bank with Acuity reporting that Asia Asset Finance which began trading last week was up 132% to close at Rs.5.80 against its reference price of Rs.2.50.
Foreign investors remained net sellers last week with a net outflow of Rs.193.1 million posted against the previous week’s net selling position of Rs.154.4 million. However, foreign purchases for the week were up 53.07% to Rs.474.5 million while foreign sales were up 44.15% to Rs.667.6 million.
Acuity said that Asia Asset Finance topped the volume list accounting for 34.87% of the shares traded during the week or Rs.79.48 million in rupee terms. ERI and Blue Diamonds (non-voting) together contributed 17.72% of the market’s total share volume last week.
John Keells Stockbrokers (JKSB) said in its weekly report that the market saw a sharp improvement in the middle of last week before ending on a negative note. Trading had been driven by speculative buying in ERI and Asia Asset Finance with the two counters collectively contributing a third of the week’s turnover.
"Activity levels remained strong during the week while net foreign participation resulted in a net outflow," JKSB said.
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