Govt.’s visa announcement gives hotel sector shares a boost

By Hiran H.Senewiratne

The stock market bounced back yesterday as many hotel sector counters performed well and heavy buying interest was noted following the government’s announcement on issuing free visas for 50 countries to enable their bearers to enter Sri Lanka. The target is the tourism sector, stock market analysts said.

Yesterday the stock market kicked off on a negative sentiment but later bounced back after suffering its highest daily loss as investors reacted negatively to the deadlock in external debt restructuring talks, while an element of profit- taking was evident too on the previous day, market analysts added.

Amid those developments both indices moved upwards. The All Share Price Index went up by 38.7 points while S and P SL20 rose by 18.48 points. Turnover stood at Rs 2 billion with two crossings. Those crossings were reported in HNB, which crossed 497,000 shares to the tune of Rs 96.7 million; its shares traded at Rs 194 and T J Lanka 639,000 shares crossed for Rs 23.6 million and its shares sold at Rs 37.

In the retail market top seven countries that contributed to the turnover were; HNB Rs 221 million (1.1 million shares traded), Dialog Rs 177 million (15.4 million shares traded), Lanka IOC Rs 167 million (1.3 million shares traded), Ambeon Holdings Rs 105.3 million (8.5 million shares traded), Capital Alliance Rs 83 million (1.3 million shares traded), Hemas Holdings Rs 71.1 million (873,000 shares traded) and Sampath Bank Rs 66.8 million (848,000 shares traded). During the day 86.4 million shares changed hands in 17750 transactions.

High net worth and institutional investor participation was noted in Lanka IOC, JKH and John Keells Hotels. Mixed interest was observed in Ambeon Capital, Browns Investments and LOLC Finance, while retail interest was noted in Hikkaduwa Beach Resort Rights, Lanka Credit and Business Finance and Industrial Asphalts.

The Banking sector was the top contributor to the market turnover while the sector index lost.

The Diversified Financials sector was the second highest contributor to the market turnover (due to LOLC Finance and Capital Alliance) while the sector index decreased by 2.81 percent. The share price of LOLC Finance recorded a loss of 20 cents to dip to Rs. 5.90. The share price of Capital Alliance declined by Rs. 1.10 to reach Rs. 59.00.

Yesterday the rupee opened steady at Rs 300.00/75 to the US dollar in the spot forex market, dealers said. Bond yields remained broadly steady as well, ahead of the bill auction. A bond maturing on 15.12.2026 was quoted stable at 11.30/35 percent. A bond maturing on 15.12.2028 was quoted stable at 12.10/15 percent.