Sri Lankan Airlines restructuring delays dampen share market

Hiran H. Senewiratne

The stock market experienced a degree of gloom yesterday following a Ministry of Finance announcement that the Sri Lanka Airline restructuring process would be delayed until February 6. Since Sri Lankan Airlines is a state owned enterprise, SrI Lanka Telecom share prices declined, market analysts said.

Amid those developments both indices moved upwards. The All- Share Price Index went down by 25.1 points and S and P SL20 rose by 0.43 points. Turnover stood at Rs 627 million without any crossings.

In the retail market top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were; Softlogic Capital Rs 68.5 million (8.2 million shares traded), Melstacope Rs 46.6 million (505,000 shares traded), JKH Rs 37.1 million (195,000 shares traded), Commercial Bank Rs 36 million (377,000 shares traded), Lanka IOC Rs 34.3 million (336,000 shares traded), Expolanka Holdings Rs 31.3 million (224,000 shares traded) and Capital Alliance Rs 26.4 million (512,000 shares traded). During the day 43.7 million share volumes changed hands in 9600 transactions.

During the day Sri Lanka Telecom was the biggest dragger of the session. CTC’s 101 shares were up while 69 shares were down. Banking sector counters performed well. Yesterday the US dollar buying rate was Rs 317.76 and selling rate Rs 327.39.