Foreign fund buys Rs. 221 m of HNB non-voting shares

Wednesday, 11 July 2012 01:47 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

A foreign fund yesterday picked up Rs. 221 million worth of HNB non-voting shares from locals, boosting net foreign inflow, which is nearing Rs. 24 billion year-to-date.

A block of 2.38 million non-voting shares of HNB was done at Rs. 93 each whilst the counter closed at Rs. 92.80, up by Rs. 2.80. The quantity amounted to 3% of HNB non-voting shares.

Major sellers were Bank of Ceylon and Indra Silva. Foreign interest on non-voting share also boosted sentiments on HNB’s voting stock, which gained by Rs. 3 to close at Rs. 144 though on thin volume of 7,346 shares.

Melstacorp was back in the market collecting available quantities of Aitken Spence as around half a million shares traded for Rs. 56 million, with 474,007 shares done at Rs. 115 each.

Apart from deals on HNB non-voting, related party transfers of stakes in Palm Garden, PCH Holdings and PC Pharma boosted CSE turnover to Rs. 914 million. However, overall investor sentiment remained depressed as indices suffered a double-digit dip.