Foreigners bullish, locals bearish

Wednesday, 6 April 2011 00:13 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Colombo stock market continues to be plagued by bearish locals and bullish foreigners as mixed and relatively lackluster performance remains the main highlight.

Foreigners became net buyers for the fourth consecutive day with small but significant inflow in relation to modest market turnover.

That apart lack of strong confidence by locals is generating mixed signals from the market. Both indices closed marginally down whilst turnover was slightly above Rs. 2 billion.

“A mix of retail selling and selective buying interest on second tier and blue chip counters resulted in the indices ending flat for the day amid moderate turnover levels,” John Keells Stock Brokers said.

Foreign purchases were Rs. 248.40 million whilst sales amounted to Rs. 155.73 million resulting in a net inflow of Rs. 92.6 million.

“Interest was witnessed on selected counters such as blue chip stocks JKH and Distilleries plus the poultry stocks. While these stocks recorded gains, other stocks declined although recording thin volumes,” NDB Stockbrokers said.

“Indices gained during early trading and closed in red. However, net foreign buying was witnessed for four consecutive days (specially on JKH), which is a good sign,” it added.

Bank, Finance & Insurance sector was the main contributor to the market turnover (mainly due to LB Finance) with the sector index decreasing 0.11%.

LB Finance was the main contributor to the market turnover with two crossings of 1,836,400 shares at Rs. 175. The share price increased by Rs. 4.90 (2.88%) and closed at Rs. 175. Beverage, Food & Tobacco sector also contributed to the market turnover (due to Bairaha Farms and Distilleries) with the sector index increasing 1.01%. Bairaha Farms continued to surge along with other poultry related stocks.