Share appreciations in Expolanka Holdings and Lanka IOC

By Hiran H.Senewiratne

The shares in two companies with high market capitalization, Expolanka Holdings and Lanka IOC, appreciated in the CSE yesterday due to positive market conditions. However, both market indices indicated mixed reactions, market analysts said.

Expolanka has been a top gainer, due to anticipation and expectations that SJ Holdings may resurface and buy Expolanka. Due to that its share price appreciated by Rs 10.50 or 6.4 per cent. Its share price moved up to Rs 174.75 from Rs 164.25.

Meanwhile, Lanka IOC has been gaining as global oil prices surge, having investors hoping that margins would increase and local oil prices will increase alongside global prices, an analyst said.

The stock market started on a positive note but it did not sustain that momentum. However, in the middle of the session, shares edged- up in mid-day trade, as the holiday season comes to an end and expectations of high profits in tourism stocks outweigh the negative impact of potential domestic debt restructuring, the analyst said.

The All- Share Price Index went down by 9.38 points and S and P SL20 rose by 20.71 points. Turnover stood at Rs 1.29 billion with two crossings. Those crossings were reported in JKH, which crossed 550,000 shares to the tune of Rs 74.3 million, its shares traded at Rs 135.25 and Lanka IOC, 200,000 shares crossed for Rs 36 million; its shares traded at Rs 180.

In the retail market top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were; Expolanka Holdings Rs 372 million (2.1 million shares traded), Lanka IOC Rs130 million (727,000 shares traded), JKH Rs 113 million (727,000 shares traded), Aitken Spence Rs 70.9 million (546,000 shares traded), JKH Rs 67.8 million (6.4 million shares traded), Browns Investments Rs 34.6 million (5.6 million shares traded) and Tokyo Cement Rs 33.3 million (656,000 shares traded). During the day 46 million share volumes changed hands in 14000 transactions.

It is said that Sri Lanka’s bond yields were steady in mid-day trade on Monday after the New Year holidays, dealers said.

The market is not active on the first day of trading after the holidays, a dealer said. A bond maturing on 01.07.2025 was quoted at 27.30/28.00 per cent, steady from 27.30/90 per cent last week. A bond maturing on 15.09.2025 was quoted at 25.75/26.00, steady from 25.80/26.00 per cent last week.Yesterday, the rupee opened at 320/320.30 to the US dollar in the spot market, unchanged from Wednesday’s close at Rs 320/325.