Lanka IOC stocks elevate bourse to positive territory

By Hiran H.Senewiratne

CSE trading started on a negative note but subsequently there was a strong rally on Lanka IOC stocks which put the market in positive territory yesterday. Further, the company with a large market capitalization, Expolanka, also performed well in the backdrop of Lanka IOC’s positive performance, stock market analysts said. Lanka IOC shares shot up 8.7 per cent or Rs 6.30. Its shares started on Rs 72.30 but at the end of the day they moved up to Rs 78.60. The stock market was overly down but subsequently investor sentiment improved with the Lanka IOC market rally.

Apart from that, Minister of Investment Promotion Dhammika Perera’s order to the BOI that it should give approval within 24 hours to companies that bring foreign direct investments to the country to begin operations, also gave an impetus to the market, market analysts said. Amid those developments both indices moved upwards. The All- Share Price Index went up by 115.15 points and S and P SL20 rose by 54.93 points. Turnover stood at Rs 1.43 billion with a single crossing. The crossing was reported in JKH, which crossed 565,000 shares to the tune of Rs 69 million, its shares traded at Rs 122.

In the retail market top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were, Lanka IOC Rs 519.4 million (6.8 million shares traded), Expolanka Holdings Rs 434 million (2.5 million shares traded), JKH Rs 77.9 million (638,000 shares traded), Browns Investments Rs 97.8 million (6.3 million shares traded), LOLC Finance Rs 28.2 million (4.2 million shares traded), LOLC Holdings Rs 28.1 million (70882 shares traded) and Hayleys Rs 25.5 million (374,000 shares traded). During the day 35.5 million share volumes changed hands in 12300 share transactions.

It is said high net worth and institutional investor participation was noted in Lanka IOC and Expolanka Holdings. Mixed interest was observed in JKH, while retail interest was noted in Browns Investments, SMB Leasing nonvoting and LOLC Finance.

The Transportation sector was a top contributor to the market turnover (due to Expolanka Holdings), while the sector index lost 1.42%. The Energy sector too contributed considerably to the market turnover (due to Lanka IOC).Yesterday, the Central Bank announced the dollar parity rate against the rupee as Rs 367.22.