Stock market remains bullish with net foreign inflow

The Colombo stock market remained bullish yesterday, including continuous net foreign inflow.

The active S&P SL20 index gained by 0.93% and the benchmark ASPI by 0.43% yesterday. Turnover was Rs. 3.1 billion involving 149.76 million shares.

Foreigners recorded a net inflow of Rs. 928.3 million with Expolanka Holdings seeing most net buying worth Rs. 446.8 million whilst selling topped in BIL at Rs. 7.8 million.

With yesterday’s net buying the amount so far in December is Rs. 3.7 billion and pushed the year-to-date figure to Rs. 21.3 billion highest since 2013. 

Asia Securities said the indices closed in green for the eighth consecutive session, supported by price gains in gains in BIL (+9.1%), LOLC (+6.4%), LOFC (+6.3%) and JKH (+2.3%). 

Crossings accounted for 28.6% of turnover with 15 crossings recorded in EXPO (Rs. 463.3 million) and five crossings in JKH (Rs. 427.7 million).

Turnover returned to Rs. 3 billion territory boosted by foreign buying in EXPO (Rs. 447 million), JKH (Rs. 263 million) and DIAL (Rs. 169 million). The ASPI initially saw a subdued opening to the session weighed by losses in ACL (-2.0%), CFVF (-2.5%), FCT (-4.1%), EXPO (-0.1%), CICX (-2.1%) and CALT (-4.1%). 

After reaching a low of 8,802 (-42 points), the index reversed course and trended towards the 8,900 mark at the back-end of the session. LOLC (+18 points) closed in as the biggest index mover, followed by BIL (+17 points), and JKH (+10 points). Overall, 78 stocks ended higher while 104 recorded price losses during the session.

The First Capital Research said retail participation was activated on LOFC following the possible amalgamation with NIFL before the year end. Although profit taking was witnessed at the beginning of the session, bulls took charge recovering with a substantial gain from the intraday low of 8,801 and managed to close the day on a positive note at 8,881, gaining 38 points. 

NDB Securities said high net worth and institutional investor participation was noted in Expolanka Holdings, John Keells Holdings and CIC Holdings. Mixed interest was observed in Dialog Axiata, Lanka IOC and LOLC Holdings whilst retail interest was noted in Browns Investments, LOLC Finance and Marawila Resorts. Furthermore, foreigners closed as net buyers.

Food, Beverage and Tobacco sector was the top contributor to the market turnover (due to Browns Investments) whilst the sector index gained 1.61%. The share price of Browns Investments gained 70 cents (9.09%) to close at Rs. 8.40.

Transportation sector was the second highest contributor to the market turnover (due to Expolanka Holdings) whilst the sector index decreased by 0.12%. The share price of Expolanka Holdings decreased by 25 cents to close at Rs. 205.75.

John Keells Holdings, Dialog Axiata and Lanka IOC were also included amongst the top turnover contributors. The share price of John Keells Holdings moved up by Rs. 3.25 (2.26%) to close at Rs. 146.75. The share price of Dialog Axiata recorded a gain of 20 cents (2.17%) to close at Rs. 9.40. The share price of Lanka IOC declined by 50 cents to close at Rs. 208.75.