Stock market dip persists

The decline of the Colombo stock market continued owing to negative sentiments as investors lost confidence amidst the deteriorating political scenario. Acuity Stock Brokers said the Bourse ended on a negative note as the ASPI decreased by 1.24%, or 74.88 points, to close at 5,987.21 points, while the S&P SL20 Index also decreased by 2.51%, or 79.94 points, to close at 3,110.64.

NDB Securities said indices closed in red due to price losses in counters such as John Keells Holdings, Commercial Bank and Hemas Holdings with the turnover crossing Rs. 1.3 billion.

“Crossings were witnessed in National Development Bank, John Keells Holdings, Teejay Lanka, Hatton National Bank, and Sampath Bank, accounting for 61.4% of the turnover.  Retail interest was noted in Access Engineering. Furthermore, foreigners remained active, closing as net buyers mainly due to foreign buying in National Development Bank. Foreign purchases accounted for 53.5% of the turnover,” NDBS said.

National Development Bank (NDB – Rs.102.7) emerged as the top contributor to turnover with Rs. 559 million (5.6 million shares), followed by John Keells Holdings (JKH-N – Rs. 145) with Rs. 305 million turnover (2.1 million shares) and Teejay Lanka (TJL – Rs. 33.5) with Rs.101 million turnover (3 million shares)