Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Bourse sustains mild rally

The Colombo bourse sustained its mild rally on Monday with both indices closing in positive territory led by interest in banking stocks, despite a slump driven by profit taking, brokers said.

The All Share Price Index closed 0.53 percent higher on 5,755.56 points, gaining 30.12 points on Monday. The index opened the week at nearly 100 points higher from last Friday’s closing. The Milanka Price Index of more liquid stocks closed 1.11 percent higher, gaining 54.4 points to close at 4,976.21 points.

Turnover amounted to Rs. 1.4 billion on a volume of nearly 46 million shares changing hands during the day. Around 100 counters closed in positive territory against 101 counters that closed in the red.

"The market managed to sustain the positive run from last week as the bourse started on an aggressive note although losing momentum half way through due to profit taking witnessed across the board.

The banking sector continued its dominance with NDB and Commercial Bank attracting both high net worth and institutional interest. Despite the persistent interest in fundamentally sound counters, heavy activity was seen in several retail favourite stocks,"NDB Stockbrokers said.

NDB Bank’s share price edged up by Rs 3.70 (3.00%) to close at Rs 127.00. Both Commercial Bank Voting and Non Voting gained by 1.34% and 6.38% respectively to close at Rs 106.00 and Rs 90.00.

NDB featured in a crossing involving a parcel of 2.84 million shares at Rs. 112.50 each, generating a turnover Rs. 347.7 million. A parcel of 944 thousand Union Bank shares changed hands at Rs. 21.5 each.

Despite the positive gains made over the past few days, the Colombo Stock Exchange was still down 5.25 percent year-to-date on Monday.

Foreign purchases amounted to Rs. 101.2 million against foreign sales amounting to Rs. 415.2 million.

source - www.island.lk

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