Negative sentiments continue to weigh down equities

By Hiran H.Senewiratne

The gloomy external and internal environmental factors put the CSE into negative territory on the previous day, but marginally the market  became positive yesterday despite the energy and fuel crisis  issue on the internal front and Russia and Ukraine crisis on the external front, stock market analysts said yesterday.

At the commencement of the market it started with a negative note and later turned positive. However, during the  last one and a half hours, the market was unable to sustain its momentum due to the negative sentiments of both the local and global scenario, stock market analysts said.

Manufacturing sector counters were down yesterday due to announced power cuts and  probable oil price hike in the future. It’s said that crude oil price has risen to US $ 98 per barrel from US $ 80. This also caused some concern among the  stock market investors, market analysts said.Sri Lanka’s state-run Ceylon Petroleum Corporation used to maintain two to three weeks of stocks before a currency crisis intensified, but it has now fallen to 5 to 6 days leading to lack of stocks at filling stations, an official said.

Amid those developments both indices were marginally up. All Share Price Index up by 0.93 points and S and P SL20 up by 1.06 points. Turnover stood at Rs 2.8 billion without a single crossing. In the retail market top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were  Expolanka Holdings Rs 519 million (1.8 million shares traded), LOLC Finance Rs 242 million (241,000 shares traded), Browns Investments Rs 195 million (14.9 million shares traded), Royal Ceramic Rs 156 million (2.5 million shares traded), Commercial Leasing and Finance Rs 127 million (2.9 million shares traded), LOLC Finance Rs 116 million (5.1 million shares traded) and ACL Cables Rs 108 million (one million shares traded). During the day 103 million share volume changed hands in 32000 transactions.It said high net worth and institutional investor participation was noted in Dialog Axiata, ACL Cables and Sunshine Holdings. Mixed interest was observed in Lanka Orix Finance, Commercial Leasing & Finance and Expolanka Holdings, whilst retail interest was noted in Browns Investments, Industrial Asphalts and SMB Leasing non-voting.

Yesterday, the US dollar rate was quoted in the local market at Rs 202, which was the Central Bank’s controlled price. They have  imposed a ceiling of Rs 203 per dollar.However, the actual price in the market would be more that Rs 250 and its rate will touch the Rs 300 level towards the end of the year, financial analysts said.