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Sunday, September 23, 2012

Weekly Market Focus

Market displayed renewed buying interest during the latter part of the week where fresh round of buyers were active on blue-chips and several mid-cap speculative stocks following the profit taking early in the week. Stocks have gone beyond the attractive range seen in the last few months and a period of consolidation is on the cards. The Colombo Stock Exchange is now trading at regional valuations as against the relative cheaper valuations seen in the recent past.

Valuations remain attractive at these levels in selective counters but investors should be mindful to book gains. During the week ASI dropped by 16.83 points (-0.3%WoW) to end at 5,910.07 while liquid MPI declined by 53.88 points (+1.0%WoW) to close at 5,534.31. S&P SL 20 Index closed at 3,178.16, down by 41.69 index points (+1.3%WoW). Average daily market turnover was Rs.1.4mn (-29.8%WoW). Foreign participation for the week stood at 17% of the total market activity and at the end of the week, foreign investors were the net buyers with a net foreign inflow of Rs.601.4mn.

On Monday market opened on a high note as indices gained significant ground in early morning trading. However, all indices edged to negative territory as major blue-chips slipped on thin volumes.

As in the recent past, stocks rallied again after mid-day to end the day on a high. Retail activity outgunned institutional activity. Main gainers for the day were leisure sectors stocks as investors remained upbeat about increased tourist arrivals with the impeding tourist season around the corner.

ASI gained 43.65 points (0.74%) to close at 5,970.55, MPI gained 44.03 points (0.79%) to close at 5,632.22 and the S&P index gained 4.75 points (0.15%) to close at 3,219.10. Turnover stood at Rs. 1,823.3mn. Top contributors to turnover were Sampath Bank with Rs. 134.3mn, Citrus Kalpitiya with Rs. 93.9n and Citrus Leisure with Rs. 77.4mn. Most active counters for the day were Citrus Kalpitiya, Citrus Leisure and Citrus Waskaduwa.

Indices were in red territory on Tuesday from the start of trading to the end. The continuous rise in the indices brought the market to a situation where profit taking and minimizing losses made during the past year have been evident. ASI dropped 58.28 points (0.98%) to close at 5,9110.81, MPI plunged 87.45 points (1.55%) to close at 5,542.93 and the S&P index lost 32.97 points (1.03%) to close at 3,177.73. Turnover was Rs. 1,843.0mn. Top contributors to turnover were Nation Lanka Finance with Rs. 174.1mn, John Keells Holdings with
Rs. 100.6mn and Citrus Kalpitiya with Rs. 92.7mn. Most active counters for the day were Nation Lanka Finance, Central Investments and Finance and Citrus Kalpitiya.

On Wednesday market saw further profit taking as the market is indeed looking to consolidate after the sudden surge seen during the past few weeks. Indices were trading in negative ground throughout and lacked the momentum that was seen last week. Blue-chips were trading lower which did not help the investor sentiment. Rates on all three maturing treasury bills edged lower with the 6-month bill dropping the most by 21 basis points. ASI slipped 61.67 points (1.04%) to close at 5,849.14, MPI lost 54.22 points (0.98%) to close at 5,488.71 and the S&P index lost 36.09 points (1.14%) to close at 3,141.64. Turnover was Rs. 1,224.0mn. Top contributors to turnover were John Keells Holdings with Rs. 227.5mn, Nation Lanka Finance with Rs. 72.7mn and Browns Beach Hotel with Rs. 57.5mn.

Most active counters for the day were Central Investments and Finance, Nation Lanka Finance and Browns Beach Hotel.

Colombo bourse bounced back on Thursday from the major support level at 5,800 levels with notable gains after two-day pullback from the rally that drove the All Share Index up to 6,000 levels. ASI gained 52.83 points (0.90%) to close at 5,901.97, MPI gained 69.35 points (1.26%) to close at 5,558.06 and the S&P SL20 Index gained 27.97 points (0.89%) to close at 3,169.61. Daily market turnover stood at Rs.941.0mn. Top contributors to turnover were Dialog Axiata with Rs.81.3mn, John Keells Holdings with Rs.70.8mn and Ceylon Tobacco with Rs.61.0mn. Most active counters for the day were Kandy Hotels, Nation Lanka Finance and Central Finance & Investments.

Market wrapped the weekly operations on Friday with mixed results. ASI advanced marginally by 8.10 points (0.04%) to close at 5,910.07 while sensitive MPI slipped by 23.75 points (0.43%) to close at 5,534.31. S&P SL 20 Index gained 8.55 points (0.27%) to close at 3,178.16. Turnover for the day was Rs.1.4bn. Aggregate value of off-the-deals accounted for 33.7% of the total turnover. Further, several stocks including John Keells Holdings, Ceylon Tobacco, Asiri Hospital, LB Finance and Ceylon Cold Stores today reached 52 week high. Top contributors to the turnoverwere John Keells Holdings with Rs.413.4mn, Ascot Holdings with Rs.56.3mn and Aitken Spence with Rs.48.5mn.

Kandy Hotels, Nation Lanka Finance and Browns Beach Hotels were the actively traded stocks for the day.

source - www.nation.lk