Lockdown rumour takes a toll on bourse

By Hiran H.Senewiratne

CSE trading began on a negative note due to unsalutary internal and external factors yesterday. One of the reasons for the market to go down was speculation that the government would likely go for a two- week lockdown owing to the acute fuel shortage. On top of that, due to the global economic recession most global stock markets declined by three per cent. This has resulted in the CSE underperforming, market analysts said.Sri Lanka’s main stock index dropped 1.76 per cent within the first hour of trading yesterday. The main All- Share Price Index was down 233 points. The most liquid index S&P SL20 fell 97 points. The market saw a turnover of Rs 1.2 billion with one crossing. The crossing reported in Seylan Bank, which crossed 866,000 shares to the tune of Rs 24.2 million; its shares traded at Rs 28.

In the retail market top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were Expolanka Holdings Rs 390 (2.4 million shares traded), Browns Investments Rs 108 million (13.6 million shares traded), Lanka IOC Rs 97.1 million (1.5 million shares traded), CIC Holdings Rs 88.8 million (2.2 million shares traded), LOLC Finance Rs 42.9 million (6.3 million shares traded), Dialog Rs 38.6 million (3.9 million) and LOLC Holdings Rs 31.4 million (73000 shares traded).During the day 62.6 million share volumes changed hands in 15000 share transactions.Yesterday, the Central Bank announced US dollar buying rate as Rs 355.51 and the selling rate as Rs 366.32.