Index nearing 6,000 points

sriranga · 1 Sri Lankan stocks close at 16-month high Thu May 02, 2013 5:44 pm

sriranga

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COLOMBO, May 2 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan shares hit a 16-month high on Thursday on expectations of a rate cut at a central bank policy meeting later this month, traders said.

The main stock index ended up 0.32 percent, or 19.18 points, at 5,972.37, its highest close since Jan. 4, 2012.

Shares have been rising on hopes of a fall in interest rates after Treasury Secretary P.B. Jayasundera and the central bank said official interest rates could ease in May-June.

The market has risen 3.4 percent through Thursday since the treasury secretary's comments on April 9.

The turnover was 634.58 million rupees ($5.01 million), well below this year's daily average of 963.9 million rupees.

Foreign investors were net buyers of 98.97 million rupees of shares, extending the net foreign inflow so far this year to 8.88 billion rupees ($70.06 million). Last year, the bourse saw a net inflow of $303 million.

The rupee ended firmer at 126.10/20 per dollar from Tuesday's close of 126.70/75 on exporter dollar sales, currency dealers said.

Both share and currency markets were close for a holiday on Wednesday in lieu of International Labour day. ($1 = 126.7500 Sri Lanka rupees)

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

(ranga.sirilal@thomsonreuters.com)(+94-11-232-5540)

(Reuters Messaging: ranga.sirilal.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)(twitter.com/rangab a)
http://www.xe.com/news/2013/05/02/3333189.htm?c=1&t=

Redbulls · 2 Index nearing 6,000 points Thu May 02, 2013 6:26 pm

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WRITTEN BY THARANGA SENARATNE
May 02, 2013 (LBT) - ASPI wandering around 6,000: The benchmark index traded on a consolidation phase today reaching near the 6,000 (5,992) land mark once again. However buying pressure was insufficient to penetrate through the barrier and ASPI ended at a lower level at 5,972.37 with a gain of 19 points. Gains recorded in Lanka IOC (14.0%), C T Holdings (7.4%) and Bukit Darah (1.4%) weighted positively on the overall performance of the bourse. The S&P SL20 index too followed a similar path with a gain of 16 points to close at 3,381.38.

Touchwood Investments denoting heavy sell-offs: Touchwood Investments spearheaded the on-board turnover contributing 19.0% to the overall turnover with several large blocks, largest being a block of 1.5 mn shares which was transacted at a price of LKR6.0. The counter witnessed heavy sell-off throughout the day with significant downward pressure on price. The counter closed at LKR5.70 with a loss of 18.9%. JKH hovered around LKR250.0: John Keells Holdings too displayed heavy on-board interest led by several large blocks. The counter witnessed a single on-board transaction of 102k shares which was traded at LKR250.0. JKH seemed to hover around its psychological mark at LKR250.0 and ended flat at the same price. Interest was seen in banking counters Commercial Bank (+0.2%), National Development Bank (+0.6%) and Hatton National Bank (+1.3%). Heavy retail activity in the bourse: Strong retail activity was seen in; Central Investments and Finance, Touchwood Investments and Colombo Land & Development.
http://lbt.lk/stock-market