Price appreciations in blue chip shares boost bourse performance

By Hiran .Senewiratne

The CSE commenced on a negative note yesterday but later on the market recovered due to notable price appreciations in blue-chip companies, stock market analysts said.

It is said that Rs. 272 billion in value has been wiped off since last week and Rs. 349 billion since January as investors turn bearish due to several macro environment factors in and out of Sri Lanka, market analysts added.

In the previous day’s fall, the ASPI reported a negative return of 1.18 per cent year to date, while S&P SL20 moved further down with a negative 4.27 per cent. ASPI at one point dipped below the psychological 12,000-point mark but recovered to a positive level yesterday, stock market analysts said.

The All -Share Price Index went up by 125 points and S and P SL20 rose by 65 points. Turnover stood at Rs 3.5 billion sans a single crossing.

In the retail market, the top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were, Expolanka Holdings Rs 498 million (1.6 million shares traded), Browns Investments Rs 248 million (17.5 million shares traded), Vallibel One Rs 209 million (2.7 million shares traded), Softlogic Life Insurance Rs 208 million (1.3 million shares traded), LOLC Holdings Rs 169 million (158,000 shares traded), Sunshine Holdings Rs 152 million (3.1 million shares traded) and ACL Cables Rs 134 million (1.3 million shares traded). During the day 130 million share volumes changed hands in 40000 transactions.

The market recovered a few points from the intraday low yet closed lower at 12,082, losing 301 points. LOLC, Hayleys and Expolanka were the major contributors in dragging the index down. Turnover was led by a joint contribution of 55 per cent from Capital Goods, Diversified Financials and Insurance sectors yesterday. It is said high net worth and institutional investor participation was noted in Teejay Lanka, Softlogic Holdings and Dipped Products.

Mixed interest was observed in Expolanka , Softlogic Life Insurance and LOLC Finance while retail interest was noted in SMB Leasing non-voting, Browns Investments and Softlogic Capital.

Yesterday, the US dollar rate was quoted at Rs 202.24, which was the controlled price of the Central Bank. The actual market price would be more than Rs 250, financial sources said.