Lanka IOC shares decline against the backdrop of fuel price reduction

By Hiran H.Senewiratne

CSE shares fell in mid-day trade for the third day yesterday, dragged down by Lanka IOC and Aitken Spence. With the fuel price slash by the government, Lanka IOC share prices began declining, stock market analysts said.

Further, Minister of Power and Energy Kanchana Wijesekera yesterday presented the Petroleum Special Provisions Act to make petroleum services an essential service and to restructure the CPC, which had created some agitation among trade unions. This would create some disruption in fuel distribution. These developments would positively impact Lanka IOC’s fuel business and its profitability will also increase substantially, stock analysts said.

From the macro-economic point of view, Japan is working to organize a meeting of Sri Lanka’s creditors by the end of this year, hoping to solve that country’s debt crisis. This has created some positive impact on the stock market, stock brokers said.

The meeting, which will discuss such issues as finding ways to reduce debt payments, aims to curb China’s influence by helping Sri Lanka to cope with its so-called debt traps, which arose after China provided huge loans to the country to fund infrastructure developments and other projects, informed sources said.

Amid those developments both indices moved downwards. The All- Share Price Index went down by 117.6 points and S and P SL20 declined by 30.4 points. Turnover stood at Rs 1.8 billion without any crossings. In the retail market, top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were, Agstar PLc Rs 380 million (19.1 million shares traded), Lanka IOC Rs 352 million (1.7 million shares traded), CIC Holdings (non- voting) Rs 129 million (1.7 million shares traded), Lanka Wall Tiles Rs 101.3 million (1.4 million shares traded), Expolanka Holdings Rs 100.9 million (645,000 shares traded), CIC Holdings (voting) Rs 87.7 million (846,000 shares traded) and JKH Rs 65.7 million (503,000 shares traded). During the day 74 million share volumes changed hands in 20000 transactions.

It is said high net- worth and institutional investor participation was noted in CIC Holdings, Citizens Development Business Finance and HNB. Mixed interest was observed in Agstar, CIC Holdings non-voting and Lanka IOC, while retail interest was noted in SMB Leasing (voting and non-voting), Browns Investments and LOLC Finance.

The Materials sector was the top contributor to the market turnover (due to Agstar, CIC Holdings (non-voting and voting), while the sector index lost 0.20%. The share price of Agstar increased by Rs. 1.80 (10.40%) to close at Rs. 19.10. The share price of CIC Holdings non-voting gained Rs. 2.90 (4.05%) to close at Rs. 74.50, while the voting share price moved up by Rs. 2.75 (2.69%) to close at Rs. 105.

The Capital Goods sector was the second highest contributor to the market turnover, while the sector index decreased by 1.10 per cent. Lanka IOC and Expolanka Holdings were also included among the top turnover contributors.

The share price of Lanka IOC recorded a loss of Rs. 11.25 (4.77 per cent) to close at Rs. 224.75. The share price of Expolanka Holdings declined by Rs. 5 (3.02 per cent) to close at Rs. 160.75.

Meanwhile, Lucky Lanka Milk Processing Company PLC has been delisted from the CSE with effect from October 13, 2022, its sources said.

Yesterday, the Central Bank-announced US dollar buying rate was Rs 360.40 and the selling rate Rs 370.93.