Plantation stock trade loses steam

By Hiran H.Senewiratne 

Kotagala and Balangoda Plantation companies made clarifications before the CSE yesterday for the high price appreciation of their shares in recent times, resulting in plantation stock trades losing momentum, market analysts  said. 

Kotagala Plantation shares appreciated by 50 percent and Balangoda Plantations shares rose by 30 percent on the previous day. Consequently, Balangoda Plantation share prices dropped by four percent and Kotagala Plantation shares rose by only 11 percent yesterday

The first nine months’ tea crop was the lowest in over 20 years, helping to keep auction prices up. Industry also saw an export volume dip in September, but was up in the first nine months, while earnings were also up, though lagging year-to-date (YTD).

Due to the sharp decline in crops, national tea sales average in September totalled Rs. 619.33 ($ 3.38), up by Rs. 108.02 ($ 0.48), as against Rs. 511.31 ($ 2.84) a year earlier.

Amid those developments, both indices showed mixed reactions and the market was down slightly  due to profit taking owing to an increase in the number of Covid 19 positive cases. All Share Price Index was down by 11.85 points and  S and P SL20 up by 7.3 points. The turnover stood at Rs. 2.26 billion with two crossings. 

Those crossings were reported in Hemas Holdings, which crossed 3.5 million shares to the tune of Rs. 246.4 million, its share price trading at Rs. 70.40 and JKH 900,000 shares crossed for Rs. 128.7 million, per share value being Rs. 130.50.

In the retail market, top five companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were,  Expolanka Rs. 190.5 million (10 million shares traded), Kotagala Plantations Rs. 116.9 million (10 million shares traded), ACL Cables Rs. 83.6 million (1.36 million shares traded), Melstacorp Rs. 83.1 million (2.45 million shares traded) and JKH Rs. 77.9 million (573,000 shares traded). During the day  107.8 million share volumes changed hands in 24896 transactions.

The market also saw a net foreign outflow of Rs. 161 million yesterday, increasing the YTD figure to Rs. 44 billion.  Sri Lanka rupee quoted flat at 184.30/40 to the US dollar on Tuesday while bond yields were steady in the overall market, dealers said. The rupee closed at 184.30/40 against the greenback on Monday.