Share depreciations in two LOLC subsidiaries drag down ASPI

By Hiran H.Senewiratne

CSE trading activities were extremely bullish in the first half of yesterday but subsequently price depreciation was noted in two index- heavy LOLC subsidiary companies, namely, Commercial Leasing and Finance and LOLC Finance. This move dragged the All- Share Price Index to negative territory, despite a very healthy turnover level that touched the Rs 11billion mark, stock market analysts said.

Commercial Leasing and Finance dropped its share price by seven per cent or Rs 5.20. Its share price moved downwards to Rs 61.90 from Rs 67.10, thus contributing 74 negative points to the All- Share Price Index. LOLC Finance, which contributed 18.8 negative points to the All- Share Price Index, depreciated its share price by five per cent or Rs 1.60. Its share price depreciated to Rs 26.50 from Rs 28.10. However, other blue-chip companies performed in a positive manner, stock market analysts said.

Both indices indicated mixed reactions. All Share Price Index went down by 64.6 points and S and P SL20 went up by 35.38 points. Turnover stood at Rs 11.07 billion with a single crossing. The crossing was reported in LOLC Holdings, which crossed 50,000 shares to the tune of Rs 50 million and its shares traded at Rs 1000.

In the retail market, top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were; Browns Investments Rs 2.2 billion (152 million shares traded), Expolanka Holdings Rs 1.67 billion (5.7 billion shares traded), Vallibel One Rs 667 million (9.3 million shares traded), LOLC Finance Rs 665 million (23.9 million shares traded), LOLC Holdings Rs 655 million (658,000 shares traded), Brown and Company Rs 502 million (1.7 million shares traded) and Royal Ceramic Rs 259 million (3.9 million shares traded). During the day 402 million share volumes changed hands in 68000 transactions.

Yesterday, the US dollar rate was quoted at Rs 203.25, which was the controlled price of the Central Bank to prevent price escalation in essential imported items. The US dollar rate is artificially controlled by the Central Bank and its actual price would be above the Rs 250 level.