The week’s trading resumed on a very dull note losing around 3 points on the ASPI which recorded 4928.8 on Monday. Thereafter the market experienced price declines most of the week with the ASPI recording a level of 4854.22 at close of week on Friday.
Despite declining indices, investors continued to buy in selective counters such as those in the banking sector. The shares of Sampath Bank traded within the price range of Rs.153.00 to Rs.162.00 in the past week of activity. The bank reported a group profit of Rs.1.35 billion for 2Q FY12 growing at 19.8%. The ordinary voting shares of HNB fetched prices in the range of Rs.130.00 to Rs.134.00 trading a quantity of 298,289 shares in the past week, while its non-voting shares fetched prices in the range of Rs.90.00 to Rs.91.50 trading a quantity of 44,348 shares. Meanwhile, NTB announced its 2Q FY results posting a profit after tax of Rs.487m up 35% from the previous year.
Despite slow trading there was demand for stocks in the leisure sector such as Hunas Falls, Confifi Hotel Holdings, Browns Beach, Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings and Riverina. Increased profitability was also reported by Hunas Falls, which made a profit after tax of Rs.7.6m up 51.3% in 2Q FY12, and its stock was seen to trade in the price range of Rs.55.10 to Rs.59.00. In the Healthcare sector, Asiri Hospitals emerged with a profit after tax of Rs.254.8m up 105.9% for the six months in FY12. The revival in the activity for Coco Lanka shares came as a shot in the arm at a time of dull trading, fetching prices ranging from Rs.45.5 to Rs.54.00 with as many as 486,028 shares changing hands.
Interest rates have edged up once again with 3-month T-Bills at 11.37% up from 11.35%, while the 6-month T-Bill increased the highest from 12.87% to 12.91%. Alarmingly the average turnover per day registered on the bourse declined by a neat 57% to record a figure of only Rs.355m as opposed to the average of Rs.823m achieved a week ago.
Net foreign inflows witnessed during the week remained positive with the highest Rs.119m being achieved on Monday accounting for 33.8% of the turnover achieved on the same day. The trend in foreign inflows, with a high percentage of foreign inflows to turnover persisted for a second day, recording 33.6% achieving a figure of Rs.107m. Most actively traded shares were JKH, NDB, LION, TKYO, Paragon, Chamanex, Madulsima, CTC, DOCK, SAMP, Renuka Holdings, Coco Lanka, Dialog, Commercial Bank & Pan Asian Power in the past week of activity. Trading in the shares of JKH were within the price range of Rs.182.90 to Rs.187.00 with a quantity of 3.2m shares changing hands in the past week.
The market closed on Friday with a slight recovery on the two falling indices, and the ASPI gained 2.3 points to close at 4854, while the Milanka increased by 16.4 points to close at 4370. Overall, the week saw the ASPI and the Milanka shedding 77 points and 9 points respectively.
(Courtesy: Innovest Investments (Pvt) Ltd – an Investment Management Company, founded by Dian Gomes, Ajit Jayaratne & Arosha Gunasekera, and licensed by the Securities & Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka)
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