Dollar selling rate of Rs. 200.06 having investors worried

By Hiran H.Senewiratne 

CSE investors were reportedly worried yesterday over inflationary pressure on  manufacturing sector companies  due to   the current buying rate of the US Dollar  standing at Rs. 195.28 and the selling rate of the US dollar standing at Rs. 200.06.

This is the highest selling rate recorded for the US dollar since April 9, 2020. That day the selling rate of the US dollar stood at Rs.200.47. Further, the Central Bank is not in a position  to sell down its dollars   in order to protect current foreign reserves, which are only ample for three months for the country to survive, stock market analysts said.  

According to the daily exchange report of the Central Bank, this  is the third time in history that the selling rate of a US dollar has exceeded the Rs.200 mark. As a result, manufacturing sector companies’ cost of production tends to move up. In turn, those stocks will have a negative impact on the stock market, analysts said.

Amid those developments, the JKH share price slightly appreciated against the backdrop of arrangements relating to the development of the West Container Terminal of the Colombo Port.

JKH shares started trading at Rs. 148 and at the end of the day they moved up to Rs. 148.50, which was a 50 cents or 0.34 percent increase, stock market analysts said.

During the day the market started with marginal gains and began declining to 110 negative points. However, during the latter part of the day, CSE signalled some positive trends and closed at  40.71 negative points (All Share Price Index). S and P SL20 went down by 17,50 points. The top five companies in the retail market that mainly contributed to the turnover were, LOLC Rs. 183.7 million (620,000 shares traded), Expolanka Rs. 163 million (3.6 million shares traded), Browns Investments Rs. 159 million (31 million shares traded), Dipped Products Rs. 83.6 million (1.8 million shares traded) and Vallibel One Rs. 66.6 million (1.4 million shares traded). During the day, 83.3 million share volumes changed hands in 14912 transactions.CSE turnover stood at Rs. 1.23 billion.