Thursday Dec 12, 2024
Thursday Dec 12, 2024
Friday, 15 January 2021 01:01 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) said yesterday cited consistent growth in the levels of activity, overall performance over a period of nine months, and the increased levels of investor participation, as strong reasons for investors to be optimistic.
In a statement, the CSE said the Benchmark All Share Price Index (ASPI) has indicated a gain of 75% since falling to its lowest point in a decade on 12 May 2020, and presently records 7,443.23 points.
The S&P SL20 index, which includes the 20 largest and most liquid shares, has also grown by 65% since 12 May 2020 to 2,782.17 points.
These statistics indicate that the stock market has consistently gathered momentum over a considerable level of time, with the turnaround in the indices being dated back to mid Q2 2020.
“There is therefore little reason to believe that the revival of the Sri Lankan stock market has been unjustifiable,” CSE said.
The growth of the indices and investor interest in the Sri Lankan stock market also comes at a time when peer regional and other global stock markets have indicated positive returns, giving reason to believe that the interest levels in equities in Sri Lanka is consistent with a global trend of a sustainable resurgence in stock markets around the world.
Considering a low interest rate regime that has prevailed in 2020, and even at present, investors have been turning to the stock market as their preferred choice for investment. The CSE said it welcomes the resurgence of the Sri Lankan stock market and is committed to consolidating on this resurgence to introduce growth initiatives that will sustain the performance and interest in the market.
The regulatory framework of the stock market has been strengthened on several aspects in recent times, including the supervision of stock broker firms, monitoring of market risk and credit risk, and market surveillance and enforcement mechanisms for listed companies.
Given the increased level of market activity, the CSE has taken measures to heighten the level of regulatory supervision, market surveillance and monitoring of risk.
The CSE said it had been proactively taking such measures in the past and will continue to do so.
As the operator of the stock market, the CSE remains strongly focused on maintaining the confidence of investors by preserving the market’s integrity and quality, and being fully aware that it is only by operating a fair, orderly and transparent market that it will be possible to sustain this level of investor confidence and performance, the CSE said in its statement.
