Shares fall for fourth straight session

Reuters: Sri Lankan shares extended their losses to a fourth straight session yesterday as foreign investors sold blue-chip stocks, such as John Keells Holdings PLC and Hemas Holdings PLC.

The Colombo stock index ended 0.14% weaker at 6,153.99, its lowest close since 16 July.

The index dropped 0.47% this week, its first weekly fall in three, bringing its year-to-date losses to 3.4%.

Turnover stood at Rs. 430.8 million ($ 2.7 million), half of this year’s daily average of Rs. 864.5 million.

“The market is slowly coming down on blue-chip selling and is back to its support level of 6,100 again,” said First Capital Holdings PLC Assistant Manager - Research Atchuthan Srirangan.

Foreign investors sold equities net worth Rs. 169.6 million yesterday, extending the year-to-date net foreign outflows to Rs. 2.5 billion.

A downward revision in the economic growth estimate earlier this month by the Central Bank has hurt sentiment, analysts have said.

Economic growth in 2018 is likely to be between 4% and 4.5%, falling short of an earlier estimate of 5%, Central Bank Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy said earlier this month.

Shares of conglomerate John Keels Holdings PLC fell 1.9%, while Hemas Holding PLC ended 3.1% lower. Biggest listed lender Commercial Bank of Ceylon closed 1.5% down, and Sri Lanka Telecom PLC lost 2.9%.

The stocks, bond and foreign exchange markets are closed today for a public holiday and will resume trading on Monday.