Assurance on haircut issue boosts investor sentiment

By Hiran H.Senewiratne

CSE trading activities were positive among investors yesterday as State Minister of Finance Shehan Semasinghe stated to the media on Tuesday that the government has no intention of going for a haircut in the domestic debt restructuring process.

Amid those developments both indices moved upwards. The All- Share Price Index went up by 135.87 points and S and P SL20 rose by 55.93 points. Turnover stood at Rs 1.64 billion with one crossing. The crossing was reported in JKH, which crossed 950,000 shares to the tune of Rs 135.9 million; its shares traded at Rs 143.

In the retail market top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were; JKH Rs 242 million (1.7 million shares traded), Melstacorp Rs 109.8 million (1.8 million shares traded), Lanka IOC Rs 90.4 million (721,000 shares traded), Commercial Bank Rs 85.6 million (1.2 million shares traded), First Capital Treasuries Rs 81.7 million (2.9 million shares traded), Distilleries Rs2.4 million (2.4 million shares traded) and SLT Rs 52.9 million (524,000 shares traded). During the day 60.3 million share volumes changed hands in 14000 transactions.

During the day it is said that high net worth and institutional investor participation was noted in Agstar, Dialog Axiata, and Hayleys. Mixed interest was observed in SLT, Lanka IOC and Expolanka Holdings, while retail interest was noted in LOLC Finance, Browns Investments and Industrial Asphalts.

JKH was the main contributor to the turnover over, which contributed around 30 percent to the turnover with the crossing and retail market trading. Lanka IOC and Hayleys were also included among the top turnover contributors. The share price of Lanka IOC recorded a loss of Rs. 1.50 to reach Rs. 124.00. The share price of Hayleys closed flat at Rs. 72.

Yesterday the rupee opened at Rs 306/307.50 to the US dollar, while bond yields were steady. The Spot US dollar closed at Rs. 305.50/306 on Tuesday.

A bond maturing on 15.09.2027 was quoted at 22.80 percent, steady from yesterday’s close at 22.90/23.10 percent. A bond maturing on 01.05.2025 was quoted at 27.00/15 percent, steady from yesterday’s 27.05/15 percent.