Saturday, December 18, 2010

Colombo Bourse Remains Sluggish During the Week

During the week the All Share Price Index (ASPI) declined by 71.91 points to close at 6360.84 points, while the Milanka Price Index (MPI) also declined by 51.38 points to close at 6834.07 points.  The daily average turnover was SLRs.2.27bn compared to SLRs.1.87bn last week and the week ended with foreign buying amounting to SLRs.502mn whilst foreign selling was SLRs.981mn.

Bourse turned positive on Monday with a higher daily turnover of SLRs.7.9bn. Bulk of the turnover was generated through four crossings of Sampath Bank amounting to 23.2mn shares at SLRs.300.00 as Dammika Perera and two other companies controlled by him transferred their stakes in the Bank to Vallibel One Limited. Retail participation remained weak during the day and the market closed with indices moving up slightly with ASPI closing up 4.07points while MPI was up by 10.10 points.

Market resumed its downward trend on Tuesday as both ASPI and MPI dropped significantly falling by 51.22 and 52.83 points respectively. Sampath Bank contributed 32% to the day’s total turnover of SLRs.1.25bn with 1.56mn share traded by way of crossings with most been bought by a high net worth individual while the counter closed down at SLRs.256.40. SMB leasing shares and warrants were among the heavily traded for the day followed by 2.4mn shares of Tokyo Cement nonvoting which traded between SLRs.38.40 and 39.40.

TheSLRs.400mn IPO of Singer Finance marked its official opening on Wednesday which was oversubscribed at an issue price of Rs.15.00 per share. The downturn in the market continued reporting a limited turnover of SLRs.667.09mn while ASPI and MPI lost ground by 11.84 and 9.37 points respectively. JKH posted day’s single largest turnover of SLRs.69mn with the share closing up at SLRs.295.30. SMB Leasing warrants were reported as the heavily traded counters while the warrant attached to the non voting share turned out to be the biggest loser of the day.

Market dipped for the third consecutive day with ASPI and MPI closing down 13.42 and 11.58 points respectively with total turnover reaching SLRs.921.93mn. JKH which closed down at SLRs.294.40 generated 15% of day’s total turnover. SMB Leasing warrant attached to the non voting share topped as the biggest gainer and the heavily traded counter for the day with share price closing up 16.7%. Nation Lanka Finance (CSF) which announced a three for two rights issue and a private placement of shares at SLRs.5.00 was amongst the heavily traded counters of the day while the share closed down by SLRs.4.10 (17.7%) at 19.10 being the top loser for the day. On Friday the market remained sluggish with total turnover being limited to SLRs.583mn to which the largest single contribution of SLRs.66mn was made by JKH which closed up SLRs.4.50 at 298.90 followed by Tokyo Cement nonvoting which closed flat at SLRs.38.00 with 1.6mn shares traded. CSF reached a bottom of SLRs.16.60 during early trading and closed down at SLRs.18.30 with more than 1.3mn shares traded. Three Acre Farms closed up SLRs.4.70 at 69.90 being among the heavily traded top gainers. Market closed on a positive note with ASPI and MPI reporting marginal gains of 0.50 points and 12.30 points respectively.

As far as market activity is concerned historically the month of December is considered as a dull period. Thus we anticipate the market sluggishness to continue in the coming two weeks and resume its upsurge with the New Year as strong financial results are reported for the December quarter. Technically the market is reaching the oversold region with Relative Strength Indices reaching thirties while indices reaching the lower Bollinger bands.

source - www.dailymirror.lk

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