CSE changes tick size applicable to equity securities; LOLC drives bourse

By Hiran H.Senewiratne 

The CSE Board of Directors decided to change the tick size applicable to equity securities traded on the Automated Trading System (ATS). The necessary rule changes have been carried out by the CSE to facilitate this change with the approval of the Securities & Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC).

The change to the tick size will be in effect from the opening of trading today. To facilitate this change, the CSE was to cancel all pending orders at the ATS at end of trading on January 7. Additionally, the open auction call on January 8 has been extended from 10.15 am. to 11.00 am. to provide adequate time for orders to be placed on the system.

Amid those developments the stock market was driven by the LOLC Group, which contributed 65 points to the All Share Price Index. It is said that both indices showed mixed reactions. All Share Price Index went up by 64.67 points and S and P SL20 declined by 6.84 points. The turnover stood at Rs. 9.14 billion with five crossings. Those crossings were reported in BPPL Holdings, which crossed 80.5 million shares to the tune of Rs. 1.29 billion and its share traded at Rs 16, JKH 1.69 million shares crossed for Rs 250.3 million, its shares trading at Rs. 148.50. Hemas Holdings 500,000 shares crossed for Rs. 47.5 million with its shares trading at Rs. 95, Sierra Cables five million shares crossed for Rs. 32.3 million; its shares trading at Rs. 6.50 and Commercial Bank 300,000 shares crossed for Rs. 24.9 million with its shares trading at Rs. 83.

In the retail market top five contributing companies to the trading were, Browns Investments Rs. 4.07 billion (1.612 million shares traded), LOLC Rs. 454.3 million (three million shares traded), Expolanka Rs. 390 million (12.6 million shares traded), Vallibel One Rs. 204 million (six million shares traded), and Hemas Holdings Rs. 147.5 million (1.55 million shares traded). During the day1.04 billion share volumes changed hands in 43490 transactions.

When one takes stock of the situation in the CSE, one would  find that the market was driven by LOLC Group, especially Browns Investments, whose shares moved up by Rs. 1.10 or 19 percent. Its shares started trading at Rs. 5.70 and at the end of the day it moved up to Rs. 6.80. Browns Investments contributed 36 points to the All Share Price Index. LOLC contributed 12 points to the All Share Price Index. Its shares moved up by Rs. 11.30 or 7.7 percent. Its shares started trading at Rs. 146.70 and at the end of the day it shot up to Rs. 158.

LOLC Finance contributed 8 points to the All Share Price Index. Its shares moved up by 19 percent or 70 cents. LOLC Finance shares started trading at Rs. 3.70 and at the end of the day it moved to Rs. 4.40 and Brown and Company contributed 8 points to the All Share Price Index. Its shares appreciated by 15 percent or Rs. 17.70. Its shares started trading at Rs. 120.60 and at the end of the day it moved to Rs. 138.50.

The benchmark All Share Price Index (ASPI) crossed 7000 points level yesterday for the first time since November 24 2015 closing the trading day on 7,036.76 points, the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) said in a statement.  

 Sri Lanka rupee closed flat at 185.10/184.90 in the spot next market against the US dollar yesterday, while bond yields eased slightly on buying pressure and the Rs. 40 billion  weekly bills auction was fully subscribed.

Rupee closed at 191.25/192.00 to the US dollar on the previous day.