Finance minister’s Rs. 229 billion economic relief package buoys stock market

By Hiran H.Senewiratne

The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), which kicked off with a bullish momentum on the previous day continued the same momentum yesterday with both indices sharply rising, recording a turnover of more than Rs. 10 billion.

The All Share Price Index surged by 174.72 points to close at a record all time high of 12,800.53, stock market analysts said.”The two days of trading saw net foreign buying of Rs. 13 million against a net annual outflow of over Rs. 50 billion in 2021 and 2020. The reason for the CSE to be more positive throughout the day was because it would be  the best investment option with the increase of money supply into the economy with the Minister of Finance Basil Rajapaksa’s economic relief package that was announced on Monday, worth 10 percent of projected 2022 revenues.

The total handout of  Rs 229 billion is about 1.2 percent of gross domestic product. It is 10 percent of the Rs 2,274 billion  revenues for 2022 already described as ‘ambitious’ by analysts and rating agencies.

Amid those developments both indices were positive. All Share Price Index up by 174.7 points and S and P SL20 up by 51.5 points. Although the first one and half hours indicated some profit takings, the market most of the time was positive, driven by LOLC group counters and other blue chip counters, stock market analysts said. Those companies were LOLC Holdings 67 points, LOLC Finance 39 points LOLC Development Finance 19.2 points contributed to the All Share Price Index.

Turnover stood at Rs 10.8 billion with four crossings. Those crossings were reported in NDB, which crossed 7.3 million shares to the tune of Rs 125.6 million and its share price traded at Rs 72, Sampath Bank one million shares crossed for Rs 52 million and its share price traded at Rs 52, Asia Siyaka Commodities ten million shares crossed for Rs 34 million and  its share price traded at Rs 3.40 and Renula Holdings 1.2 million shares crossed for Rs 25.2 million and its share price traded at Rs 21.

In the retail market top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were LOLC Finance Rs 1.7 billion (60 million shares traded), Browns Investments Rs 788 million (45 million shares traded), Prime Lands Residencies Rs 621 million (46.2 million shares traded), Sunshine Holdings Rs 449 million (8.3 million shares traded), LOLC Holdings Rs 390 million (314,000 shares traded),  Expolanka Holdings Rs 341 million (893,000 shares traded) and Overseas Realities Rs 250 million (10.5 million shares traded). During the day 806 million share volumes changed hands in 76000 transactions.

Watawala Plantations, which is the market leader in palm oil in Sri Lanka share price appreciated by 16 percent or Rs 21.75. The reason being in the international market the palm oil price has gone up considerably. Therefore, its share price shot upto Rs 160 from Rs 138.25. The parent company of Watawala Plantations Sunshine Holdings share price also appreciated by 18 percent or Rs 8.80. Its share price shot upto Rs 57.80 from Rs 49.   The share price of LOLC General Insurance recorded a gain of Rs. 1.20 (5.85 percent) to close at Rs. 21.70. The share price of Expolanka Holdings appreciated by Rs. 11.50 (3.06 percent ) to close at Rs. 386.75.