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Turnover and trades at the Colombo Stock Market soared to new highs as investors, especially retailers and high net-worth individuals remained upbeat on listed equities, despite a fresh COVID-19 scare in the country.
Turnover rose to Rs. 5 billion, the highest since 9 January this year and 33% above Monday whilst the number of trades was 41,686, the highest since 5 September 2011. An elated Ajith Nivard Cabraal tweeted yesterday saying “I am naturally happy about this development as the State Minister of Capital Market.”
Capital Trust Chairman Tushan Wickramasinghe described the number of trades as an all-time record given the fact that there was only three and a half hours of trading.
Investor activity centred on a slew of second and third tier stocks which had been overlooked previously.
Panasian Power saw nearly 13% of its stake or 81.45 million shares traded for Rs. 333.2 million and Sierra Cables saw 12% of its stake or 64 million of its shares traded for Rs. 336 million.
The major seller at Panasian Power was shareholder/Director Dr. T. Senthilverl and buyers included several high net-worth investors. As at 30 June, Dr. Senthilverl held around a 25% stake in PAP, whose share price closed at Rs. 4.10 up by 5%.
The seller at Sierra Cables were Almas Organisation and Carlines Holdings of Imtiaz Buhardeen, who collectively held about 9% and was the second largest shareholder. These blocks too had been bought by high net-worth investors as part of their trading portfolio. SIRA closed at Rs. 5.40, up by 10%.
New favourite Expolanka Holdings continued to draw strong interest and was the most traded in terms of value (Rs. 864 million) accounting for 17% of turnover. The share price of Expolanka Holdings increased by 4% to close at Rs 17.40; a new 52-week high.
Another growing stock, Tokyo Cement saw trading worth of Rs. 339.5 million shares. Its share price (non-voting) recorded a gain of 7% to close at Rs. 54.20.
Piramal, whose investments in Sri Lanka is under review, saw trading of 5% of stake or 52.3 million shares before closing at Rs. 7, up by Rs. 2 or 40% from its previous close. Large blocks were done at Rs. 6.20 per share.
Net foreign selling amounted to 4 million shares worth Rs. 28.7 million. Piramal of India holds a 56.4% stake or 536.3 million shares in the Lankan entity. The next biggest shareholder is EPF with 90 million shares or a 9.5% stake.
Piramal Glass Ceylon reported impressive second quarter earnings yesterday. It has achieved a net profit of Rs. 360 million (vs. 2Q19 net profit of Rs.74 million), resulting in a 1H20 net profit of Rs.316 million (vs. 1H19 net profit of Rs. 95 million), according to CT SLSA Securities.
RIL Properties also figured in the top turnover and volume list—Rs. 373 million and 36.4 million shares with share price up by 5.38% to close at Rs. 9.80. RIL disclosed that there was no undisclosed price-sensitive information in relation to the company or any other reason which may have caused the unusual trading activity observed by the CSE.
Acuity Stockbrokers said the Bourse ended on a negative note as the ASPI decreased by 0.65% or 38.08 points to close at 5,802.97 points, while the S&P SL20 Index also decreased by 1.32% or 30.90 points to close at 2,303.81. It said foreign investors, recorded a net outflow of Rs. 140.8 million as against Rs. 224 million on Monday.
First Capital said dip in big-caps overruled the gains in mid-caps, reverting the direction of the market to negative after recording an uptick for four consecutive days. Turnover recorded a nine month high on the back of Material counters, closely followed by Transportation counters, making a joint contribution of 41%.
“Index experienced a sideways movement during the early hour of trading, thereafter recorded a gradual downtrend for the rest of the session, as it closed at 5,803 with a dip of 38 points,” First Capital added.
Asia Securities said “Overall market sentiment remained positive with most mid-cap stocks recording an increase in prices due to expectations of strong earnings.”
NDB Securities said the indices closed in red as a result of price losses in counters such as Carson Cumberbatch, John Keells Holdings and Ceylon Cold Stores.
It said mixed interest was observed mainly in Expolanka Holdings, RIL Property and Piramal Glass. Foreign participation in the market remained at subdued levels with foreigners closing as net buyers. Similarly, institutional investor participation remained subdued for the day.
Materials sector was the top contributor to the market turnover (due to Piramal Glass and Tokyo Cement Company non-voting), whilst the sector index gained 6.59%.
