Lanka-India oil distribution pipeline proposal stimulates share market

By Hiran H.Senewiratne

The CSE edged-up in mid-day trade yesterday due to positive market conditions brought about by investors moving to the stock market. The latter trend is traceable to a considerable price decline at the Treasury bill auction, coupled with an improvement in business prospects resulting from Lanka IOC’s proposal for an oil distribution pipeline connecting Nagapattinam in India to Sri Lanka, a market analyst said.

“A proposal by the IOC for an oil distribution pipeline connecting Nagapattinam, Trincomalee & Colombo was discussed, Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera tweeted yesterday.

“I requested them to look at a two- way oil & gas pipeline, taking into consideration the government’s development plan for the Trinco tank farm & energy hub, future development of refineries, oil & gas exploration, pipeline connections to domestic LPG terminals that will target regional oil and gas export markets, while enabling the meeting of energy requirements of both countries, Wijesekera tweeted.

Amid those developments both indices moved upwards. The All- Share Price Index moved up by 132.96 points and the most liquid index S&P SL20 was up by 60.8 points. Turnover stood at Rs 2.7 billion with six crossings. Those crossings were reported in Royal Ceramic, where 2.2 million shares crossed to the tune of Rs 76.7 million and its shares traded at Rs 34, Aitken Spence Hotel’s 900 million shares crossed for Rs 59.4 million, its shares traded at Rs 66, HNB 283,000 shares crossed for Rs 47.1 million and its shares traded at Rs 166.50, DFCC 600,000 shares crossed to the tune of Rs 33.3 million and its shares fetched Rs 55.50, Distilleries 1.4 million shares crossed for Rs 35.1 million, its shares traded at Rs 22.50 and Hayleys 250,000 shares crossed for Rs 23 million, its shares fetched Rs 92.

In the retail market top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were, Lanka IOC Rs 303.3 million (2.1 million shares traded), Hayleys Rs 163 million (1.7 million shares traded), Capital Alliance Rs 153 million (3.2 million shares traded), Haycarb Rs 125 million (1.7 million shares traded), Sampath Bank Rs 124 million (1.8 million shares traded) and HNB Rs 120 million (710,000 shares traded).

During the day 144.9 million share volumes changed hands in 24000 transactions. The Energy Industry Group brought in a revenue of Rs 216 million during mid- day trade, while the market generated a turnover of Rs 1.2 billion.Yesterday, the Central Bank’s US dollar buying rate was Rs 310.49 and the selling rate Rs 324.67.