‘CSE has bounced back, spurred by positives’

By Hiran H.Senewiratne 

CSE has bounced back, encouraged by the positives and future upside, State Minister of Money and Capital Market and State Enterprise Reforms Ajith Nivard Cabraal said.

“The CSE has so much value as stocks are grossly under-priced. While it is true that foreign investors have sold out to the tune of over Rs. 30 billion, Sri Lankans have reinforced confidence by buying foreign holdings and it reflected the actual depth of the local investor base, “Cabraal told an investor forum titled “Twenty 21 and Beyond” organised by Softlogic Stockbrokers on Tuesday. He told capital market players that if they can succeed in securing 1 percent of a Rs. 10 trillion deposit base of banks and finance companies, the CSE will benefit by Rs. 100 billion in captive funds. “This is the true potential of the CSE, and stakeholders must harness it,” he said. Cabraal also recalled that even in its best effort, state funds such as the EPF, invested only Rs. 70 billion.

Amid those developments the CSE was bullish yesterday with heavy trading in the market. However, Expolanka which traded heavily during the last few days saw a price drop following its announcement they have no undisclosed price sensitive information in relation to Expolanka. Therefore, its stock price dropped by 30 cents during the day, sources said.

However, both CSE indices moved upwards; i.e, the All Share Price Index was up by 51.71 points and S and P SL20 up by 24.15. Turnover stood at Rs. 3.53 billion with six crossings.

Those crossings were reported in HNB, which crossed 26 million shares to the tune of Rs. 318 million, its share price trading at Rs. 123, CCS 126,000 shares crossed for Rs. 81.9 million, per share value Rs. 650.10, JKH 414,000 shares crossed for Rs. 56.3 million, per share value being Rs. 136, Central Finance 371,000 shares crossed for Rs. 29.3 million, per share value standing at Rs. 79, Melstacorp 700,000 shares crossed for Rs. 23.5 million at a per share value of Rs. 33.50 and DFCC 294,000 shares crossed for Rs. 20 million, per share value being Rs. 68.

In the retail market top five companies that mainly contributed to the day’s turnover were; Expolanka Rs. 465 (49 million shares traded), Tokyo Cement Rs. 165 million (3.3 million shares traded), Melstacorp Rs. 156.5 million (4.7 million shares traded), ACL Cables Rs. 154 million (three million shares traded) and JKH Rs. 151.6 million (1.1 million shares traded). During the day 85.1 million share volumes changed hands in  27759 transactions. 

During the day several companies, Tokyo Cement, Lanka IOC, Melstacorp, LMF and ACL Cables witnessed more than 9 percent gain in  their respective shares. During the day 169 companies’ shares prices moved up and only 55 companies’ prices depreciated.          

 Chevron Lubricants Lanka PLC has appointed Muhammad Najam Shamsuddin as  their new  Managing Director & CEO  with effect from October 1, 2020, stock market sources said.