Market participants averse to activity ahead of Budget 2024

by Hiran H.Senewiratne

Trading activities at the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) were in the negative territory yesterday as investors were adopting a wait-and-see approach in the backdrop of the upcoming national budget for the year2024.

However, according to market analysts there was investor interest around SLT shares ahead of the potential sale of the SOE. The Finance Ministry’s SOE restructuring unit had offered a 50.3 percent stake of the entity for sale on November 10, it was reported.

Although both indices of stock trading showed a downward trend, the turnover level was quite satisfactory compared to the previous day. All Share Price Index down by 21.09 points and S and P SL20 down by 9.91 points. Turnover stood at Rs 1.02 billion with two crossings. Those crossing was reported in Windforce , which crossed 3.5 million shares to the tune of Rs 66.5 million and its share price traded at Rs 19 and JKH 113,000 shares crossed to the tune of Rs 22.3 million and its share price traded at Rs 197.50.

In the retail market top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were JKH Rs 162 million (822,000 shares traded), Commercial Bank Rs 71.8 million (835,000 shares traded), SLT Rs 68.4 million (662,000 shares traded), Sampath Bank Rs 57.6 million (837,000 shares traded), Watawala Plantations Rs 56.4 million (713,000 shares traded), CIC Rs 46.5 million (676,000 shares traded) and CTC Rs 46.3 million (46842 shares traded). During the day 25 million share volumes changed hands in 8891 transactionsMeanwhile, the exchange rate opened at Rs 327.50/328.00 to the US dollar yesterday, from Rs. 327.40/70 on the previous day, dealers said.