Global stock markets decline by 5.2 per cent in 2022 third quarter

By Hiran H.Senewiratne

The MSCI World Stock Market Index reports that in the third quarter of this year ending September, Europe, Asian and US asset markets, namely commodity and equity markets, dropped notably. The Index further reveals that global stock markets declined by 5.2 per cent in the third quarter of this year, stock analysts said.

The MSCI World Index is a broad global equity index that represents large and mid-cap equity performance across all 23 developed markets. It covers approximately 85 per cent of the free float-adjusted market capitalization in each country.Apart from stock markets, gold prices indicated an 8.3 per cent drop. The US dollar rate appreciated in the third quarter of this year, market analysts said.

Yesterday the CSE was sluggish due to month- end, weekend and quarter- end taking of profits from the CSE. Both CSE indices moved downwards. The All- Share Price Index went down by 20.4 points and S and P SL20 declined by 6.8 points. Turnover stood at Rs 2.5 billion with eight crossings.

Those crossings were reported in Commercial Bank, where 1.1 million shares crossed to the tune of Rs 10.2 million, its shares traded at Rs 55, LOLC Finance 11.9 million shares crossed for Rs 100 million and its shares traded at Rs 8.40, JKH 600,000 shares crossed to the tune of Rs 82.8 million, its shares fetched Rs 138, Hunas Falls 900,000 shares crossed to the tune of Rs 36 million, its shares traded at Rs 40, Lanka IOC 120,000 shares crossed to the tune of Rs 34.6 million, its shares traded at Rs 288, Agstar PLC 1.8 million shares crossed to the tune of Rs 39.7 million and its shares fetched Rs 16.50, CIC Holdings (Non- Voting) 400,000 shares crossed to the tune of Rs 28 million, its shares were sold at Rs 70 and CIC (Voting) 250,000 shares crossed to the tune of Rs 21,2 million shares; its shares fetched Rs 85.

In the retail market top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were, Lanka IOC Rs 225 million (785,000 shares traded), Expolanka Holdings Rs 173 million (800,000 shares traded), CIC Holdings (Voting) Rs 153 million (1.7 million shares traded), CIC Holdings (Non- Voting) Rs 118 million (1.7 million shares traded), LOLC Finance Rs 82.3 million (9.3 million shares traded), Lanka Wall Tiles Rs 72.4 million (862,000 shares traded) and ACL Cables Rs 66.8 million ( 582,000 shares traded). During the day 99.4 million share volumes changed hands in 25000 transactions.

Aberdeen Holdings, a diversified conglomerate based in Sri Lanka, sold 5 per cent of its stake in Expack Corrugated Cartons for Rs. 282.5 million with a total of 16.6 million shares changing hands via 118 trades. Prices ranged from Rs. 17 to Rs. 17.60 per share. In total 21.2 million shares changed hands via 978 trades for Rs. 363 million.

The sale of Expack shares comes in the form of a strategic rebalancing of the investment portfolio of Aberdeen Holdings. Yesterday the Central Bank- announced US dollar buying rate was Rs 359.16 and the selling rate Rs 369.91. The rupee rate has become stable against the US dollar due to the Central Bank’s prudential economic policies, financial sources said.