Market heavyweights, Lanka IOC and Expolanka Holdings, boost CSE

By Hiran H.Senewiratne

Luminex Limited, one of Sri Lanka’s small scale, multifaceted engineering firms, started trading at the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) this week following an initial public offer (IPO) to raise Rs 250 million, the CSE said in a statement.The shares were listed on the Diri Savi Board of the CSE under the “2010 – Capital Goods” sector. The trading launch was marked with a special bell-ringing ceremony on the CSE trading floor.

Luminex is the fifth equity listing so far this year.The CSE index moved up over 1.6 per cent yesterday, pushed up by market heavyweights, Expolanka and Lanka IOC, stock market analysts said. It is said that Expolanka’s attractive dividend payment and Lanka IOC’s probable fuel hike, showed heavy buying pressure for those stocks.

An analyst said the market was kept up mainly by Expolanka shares, following its Rs 8.19 dividend for the year ending March 2023. Amid those developments both indices moved upwards. The All- Share Price Index went up by 95.1 points and S and P SL20 rose by 47.5 points.Turnover stood at Rs 1.2 billion with two crossings. Those crossings were reported in Commercial Bank, which crossed 1.7 million shares to the tune of Rs 85 million, its shares traded at Rs 50 and HNB, which crossed 260,000 shares to the tune of Rs 20.8 million, its shares traded at Rs 80.

In the retail market, top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were; Lanka IOC Rs 241 million (3.4 million shares traded), Expolanka Holdings Rs 214 million (1.1 million shares traded), JKH Rs 87.3 million (715,000 shares traded), Commercial Bank Rs 68.5 million (1.3 million shares traded), HNB Rs 66.9 million (835,000 shares traded), Browns Investments Rs 45.6 million (5.3 million shares traded) and LOLC Finance Rs 42.4 million (597,000 shares traded). During the day 44.7 million share volumes changed hands in 12000 transactions.

It is said high net worth and institutional investor participation was noted in Commercial Bank, Hatton National Bank and John Keells Holdings. Mixed interest was observed in Expolanka Holdings, Royal Ceramics and Lanka IOC while retail interest was noted in Browns Investments, LOLC Finance and SMB Leasing.Yesterday, the Central Bank announced the US dollar buying rate as Rs. 356.12 and the selling rate as Rs.367.16.