Mixed sentiment at Bourse midst thin volumes

The Colombo stock market began a fresh week with mixed sentiments prolonging a much anticipated full scale rebound.

“Indices were almost flat throughout the day while selling pressure continued under thin volumes. However, the interest witnessed in selected stocks in the Investment Trusts sector, supported indices against the drop in other blue chip stocks. ASPI closed marginally green while MPI closed in red,” NDB Stockbrokers said.

Diversified sector was the main contributor to the market turnover (due to Aitken Spence), while the sector index increased by 0.02%. Aitken Spence was the main contributor to the market turnover with two crossings of 2,000,000 shares at Rs 135. The share price decreased by Rs 2.40 (1.75%) and closed at Rs.135.

Bank, Finance and Insurance sector also contributed significantly to the market turnover (due to Central Finance). The sector index decreased a further 0.71% today. Foreign stake of Distilleries decreased by 510,000 shares.

Investment Trusts sector was on the up today amidst interest witnessed in Environmental Resources Investments. The share price increased by Rs 11.90 (19.16%) and closed at Rs 76.50. The share prices of its subsidiaries, Ceylon Leather Products and Dankotuwa Porcelain also appreciated by Rs 18.90 and Rs 7.20 respectively.

Reuters said stocks ended steady on Monday as strong gains in telecom shares were offset by losses in financial shares in light trading amid concerns over margin calls that forced selling and low liquidity.

Sri Lanka’s main share index edged up 0.02 percent or 1.7 points, to 6,894.26. It had shed around seven percent so far in June alone, but is up 3.89 percent so far this year.

It was the Asia Pacific’s top performer in 2010 and 2009 with 96 percent and 125 percent returns respectively.

Analysts said forced selling by brokers has been continuing in line with the policy of the regulator Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to recover credits, while over 6 billion rupees has been locked up in the two recent initial public offerings.

Foreign investors were net sellers of 150.5 million rupees worth of shares on Monday and have sold a net 6.69 billion rupees in 2011 after a record 26.4 billion in 2010.

The day’s turnover was 1.95 billion Sri Lanka rupees (17.8 million), well below last year’s average of 2.4 billion and this year’s daily average of 2.86 billion. Traded volume was 91.9 million, against a five-day average of 116.9 million. The 30-day and 90-day average trading volumes were 188.4 million and 106 million, respectively. Last year’s daily average was 67.9 million.

The rupee closed down at 109.68/70, from Friday’s close of 109.58/60 a dollar, as the central bank widened and increased the dollar trading band by 10 cents to 109.10/70 from 109.10/60 amid heavy importer demand for the greenback, dealers said.