Access Engineering share price rises fivefold

By Hiran H.Senewiratne 

Access  Engineering PLC share prices at the CSE increased fivefold yesterday  following a Cabinet decision to award the company a contract to build a new housing scheme in Borella at Rs. 9.37 billion, market analysts said.

The Elliot Place Housing Project with 400 housing units planned by the Urban Development Authority for middle income earners in the public and private sectors was based on a proposal presented by Minister of Urban Development and Housing on the recommendation of the Cabinet appointed standing procurement committee.

During the day, an Access Engineering share began to be priced at Rs. 23.52 and at the end of the day it moved up by Rs. 24.70, which was a Rs. 1.20 increase.

However, banking sector counters witnessed a slight drop in share prices due to selling pressure. 

Amid those developments, lower interest rates attracted new investors into the CSE, which has created some buying interest. All Share Price Index went down by 8.84 points and S and P SL20 declined by 1.73 points.

The turnover stood at  Rs. 2.15 billion with four crossings. Those crossings were reported in DFCC, which crossed one million shares to the tune of Rs. 70 million; its shares traded at Rs. 70, Union Bank 3.7 million shares crossed for Rs. 41.4 million; its share price traded at Rs. 11.30, Watawala Plantations one million shares crossed for Rs. 34 million; its shares trading at Rs. 34 and LMF 200,000 shares crossed for Rs. 20.4 million, its share trading at Rs. 102.

In the retail market top five companies that mainly contributed to turnover were,  Access Engineering Rs. 154.4 million (6.3 million shares traded), Kelani Tyre Rs. 118.4 million (1.5 million shares traded), DFCC Rs. 102.5 million (1.47 million shares traded), LIOC Rs. 101.7 million (3.9 million shares traded) and Tokyo Cement (Non Voting) Rs. 92.9 million (2.8 million shares traded). During the day, 156 million share volumes changed hands in 21236 transactions.

It is said that Commercial Leasing and Finance announced a debenture issue.