Colombo stock dip persists raising concerns among die hard investors

The Colombo stock market bearish mood persisted yesterday, triggering the worst intra-day fall in recent times and sparking concerns among die hard investors. 

The All Share Price Index dipped 3% or 231 points whilst S&PSL20 performed in a similar fashion. Turnover was a respectable Rs. 5.1 billion though below the daily average in the New Year. 

Analysts said the CSE has fallen by nearly 15% from 9,000 points to 7,735 points within days, perhaps exposing fickleness, but others said fundamentals were intact based on earnings and valuations hence investor behavior was unwarranted. 

First Capital said the market experienced the largest intraday loss for the week on the third consecutive day of downfall recording a near four-week low. 

“Index experienced a dip within the first few minutes of trading followed by a short-lived uptrend. Subsequently, the market witnessed a landslide for the rest of the session hitting its intraday low of 7,689 before closing at 7,732 losing 231 points,” First Capital added. 

It said Materials sector led the turnover for the session closely followed by Capital Goods sector, making a combined contribution of 53%. 

NDB Securities said the ASPI closed in red as a result of price losses in counters such as Haycarb, Browns Investments and LOLC.

It said high net worth and institutional investor participation was noted in Dipped Products and Sunshine Holdings. Mixed interest was observed in Haycarb, John Keells Holdings and Royal Ceramics, whilst retail interest was noted in Expolanka Holdings and LOLC Holdings. 

Materials sector was the top contributor to the market turnover (due to Dipped Products and Haycarb), whilst the sector index lost 8.86%. The share price of Dipped Products decreased by Rs. 53.50 (7.45%) to close at Rs. 665. The share price of Haycarb moved down by Rs. 389.75 (26%) to close at Rs. 1,109.25.

Capital Goods sector was the second highest contributor to the market turnover (due to John Keells Holdings), whilst the sector index decreased by 3.32%. The share price of John Keells Holdings recorded a gain of Rs. 0.75 (0.49%) to close at Rs. 154.75.

Sunshine Holdings and Expolanka Holdings were also included amongst the top turnover contributors. Furthermore, the share price of Sunshine Holdings lost Rs. 8 (9.09%) closing at Rs. 80, whilst foreign holdings decreased by 5,670,589 shares. The share price of Expolanka Holdings declined by Rs. 2.50 (4.84%) to close at Rs. 49.20.

Net foreign selling amounted to Rs. 335 million up from Rs. 10.6 million on Tuesday and brought the year to date figure to Rs. 10.6 billion.

Asia Securities said estimated net foreign buying topped in JKH at Rs. 110.3 million and net foreign selling topped in SUN at Rs. 453.6 million.