Bourse ends week on the up

Despite the dip witnessed early in the week, regained optimism helped the Bourse end the week on a positive note.

 The ASPI and MPI closed on the up by 1.64% and 0.56% respectively for the week.

 Turnover yesterday was a high Rs. 2.1 billion with net foreign inflow of Rs. 608 million. The Bourse managing to close on the up lifted spirits of investors as some analysts were sceptical over Thursday’s 5% remarkable rebound, hinting it wasn’t spurred by genuine buying.

 NDB Stockbrokers said the market witnessed mixed sentiments yesterday, with indices experiencing several swings between positive and negative territories.

“Despite the positive opening, profit taking across the board led the market into red. However, the market managed to close firmer, gaining 0.12%. Foreign buying surpassed domestic buying mainly due to the continued interest in Commercial Bank,” NDBS said.

 The Bank, Finance and Insurance sector was the highest contributor to the market turnover (due to Commercial Bank and Swarnamahal Finance) and the sector index gained 0.48%.

 Commercial Bank’s share price closed flat at Rs. 100 while the share price of Swarnamahal Finance gained Rs. 5 (2.91%) to close at Rs. 175. Commercial Bank’s foreign holding increased by 6,056,702 shares.

 Diversified sector became the second highest contributor to the market turnover (due to Hayleys and John Keells Holdings) and the sector index increased by 0.65%.

The share price of Hayleys gained by Rs. 17.90 (4.94%) to close at Rs. 390, while John Keells Holding’s share price closed flat at Rs. 164.

 Arrenga Capital said stocks continued to depict heavy intra-day volatility as the indices bounced between gains and losses, following high fluctuations in the speculative lot.

“The morning sprint led the ASPI and MPI to shoot up as much as 110 and 73 points at their respective peaks. However, it followed an intensive fall as the indices touched low points of 5,265.6 and 4,503.8 points respectively,” it added.

 Some recovery was witnessed thereafter, where both the indices closed flat for the day. Heavy retail activity, which was observed during early trading, was complemented by several large deals drawn on blue chips during the latter trading hours.

 Arrenga said Conglomerate Hayleys saw some renewed participation as the counter took the second position in the day’s top performance list. Substantial buying interest emerged in the counter as it witnessed several large transactions being taken on board. The counter closed at Rs. 380.4 advancing by 4.9%.

 Leading blue chip John Keells Holdings continued to attract interest as the counter touched a high of Rs. 164.9, before closing flat at Rs. 163.0. Speculative chase continued in Swarnamahal Financial Services (+2.9%), P C House (+9.9%), HVA Foods (-0.9%), Environmental Resources Investment (-1.6%), Acme Printing & Packaging (+15.7%) and Nation Lanka Finance [W: 0021] (+28.1%).

source - www.ft.lk