Bearish start at CSE for locals; foreigners account for 40% of turnover

• Crossings deliver over 50% of turnover

The Colombo stock market began a fresh week with indices down by 1% as locals turned bearish whilst foreigners were active accounting for 40% of turnover.

The benchmark ASPI dipped by 116 points or 1.2% and the S&P SL20 by 28 points or 1%. Turnover was Rs. 2.1 billion involving 239 million shares.

Foreigners recorded a net inflow of Rs. 25.4 million while their participation turned strong at 40% of turnover up from 10% on Friday. Net foreign buying topped in JKH at Rs. 24.7 million while net foreign selling topped in DOCK at Rs. 13.3 million.

Crossings accounted for 54.0% of turnover led by VLL (Rs. 653.7 million), MELS (Rs. 203 million), JKH (Rs. 135 million) ATL (Rs. 109.8 million) and SAMPN (Rs. 27.4 million).

Asia Securities said the indices commenced the week in red as investors extended profit-taking for a second consecutive session on Monday (13). LIOC (-3.8%), DIAL (-2.9%), DIST (-3.0%), VONE (-3.8%), COMBX (-2.2%), DFCCN (-4.7%), HNBX (-2.1%), HNBN (-3.5%), and TKYOX (-2.0%) ended with losses while TILE (+1.3%), AHUN (+2.0%), AEL (+0.7%), TJL (+0.6%), and GLAS (+0.6%) recorded price gains during the session. VONE (-16 points), HNBN (-12 points), and LIOC (-9 points) ended as the major laggards on the ASPI. The breadth of the market ended negative with 48 price gainers and 123 decliners.

It also said block trades generated Rs. 1.1 billion of turnover (54.0% of market turnover) boosted by off-board transactions.

First Capital said the Index plunged to an intraday low of 9,442 soon into market opening as profit taking intensified during the day on banking and diversified financial counters weighing down on the ASPI. Although ASPI displayed gradual recovery and remained stagnant during the latter part of the session, the bourse closed for the day at 9,491 losing 116 points. LIOC share price fell on the expectation of a drop in volumes, with the Power and Energy Minister’s announcement on the decline in consumption of auto diesel and petrol by over 50% and 30% respectively.

NDB Securities said mixed interest was observed in Lanka IOC, Expolanka Holdings and Sampath Bank whilst retail interest was noted in SMB Leasing nonvoting, Industrial Asphalts and Softlogic Capital.

The Utilities sector was the top contributor to the market turnover (due to Vidullanka) whilst the sector index gained 0.33%. The share price of Vidullanka increased by 10 cents to Rs. 6.

The Food, Beverage & Tobacco sector was the second highest contributor to the market turnover (due to Melstacorp) whilst the sector index decreased by 0.75%. The share price of Melstacorp closed flat at Rs. 58.

John Keells Holdings, Amana Takaful and Sampath Bank were also included amongst the top turnover contributors. The share price of John Keells Holdings moved down by 50 cents to Rs. 141.50. The share price of Amana Takaful closed flat at Rs. 12. The share price of Sampath Bank declined by 40 cents to Rs. 54.60.