Colombo shares tumbled further on Wednesday despite decrease in Treasury bill yields for the first time in six weeks. Concerns on economy and departure of Carin India, the gas explorer in coast of Mannar affected the investor sentiment.

Benchmark ASI declined notably by 38.13 points or 0.54% to end at a three month low of 7,040.32 while S&P SL 20 index declined by 30.04 points (-0.79%) to end at 3,781.17.

Today’s losses were mainly led by price depreciations in counters such as Carson Cumberbatch (closed at LKR 382.00, -4.4%), Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings (closed at LKR 65.10, -7%) and Commercial Bank (closed at LKR 156.00, -1.2%). Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings recorded a fresh 52wk low price of LKR 65.00.

Market turnover was LKR 726mn. Single crossing was recorded in Commercial Bank where 0.5mn shares changed hands at LKR 157.50 per share which accounted for 11% of the market turnover. Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings positioned at the top of the turnover list with LKR 147mn. Commercial Bank (LKR 87mn), Ceylon Grain Elevators (LKR 75mn) and Three Acre Farms (LKR 26mn) made notable contributions to the turnover.

Market breath was negative as 120 counters declined, 69 counters rose while 48 counters remained unchanged. 07 counters advanced to 52wk high prices whereas 24 counters dropped to 52wk low prices. Cash map further declined from 45% to 33% on heavy sell-offs.

Poultry sector counters continued to attract investor interest and recorded fresh 52wk high prices during the session. Ceylon Grain Elevators recorded a 52wk high price of LKR 120.00, +3.3% while Three Acre Farms and Bairaha Farms recorded 52wk high prices of LKR 162.80, +2.9% and LKR 239.90, +2.1% respectively. However, all three counters closed with negative returns.

Further, shares of Lanka Century Investments, Hayleys Fabric and Hayleys Fiber were among heavily traded counters.

Moreover, Lanka Ceramic advanced to LKR 130.00 during the session with a gain of 3.9%, subsequent to the LKR 2.50 per share interim dividend declared in yesterday.

Meanwhile, at today’s Treasury bill auction, all three T-bill yields declined where 3M and 6M T-bill yields dropped by 5bps and 3bps to 6.73% and 7.04% respectively while 12M T-bill yield declined by 8bps to 7.10%. CBSL offered LKR 25.0bn worth of Treasury bills today and the auction was oversubscribed by 2.6 times with bids received amounting to LKR 64.1bn. It was decided to accept LKR 24.0bn worth of bills.

Foreign investors turned to be net buyers with a net foreign inflow of LKR 107mn. Foreign participation declined notably from 32% to 11%. Net foreign inflows were seen in Commercial Bank (LKR 86mn), Hatton National Bank (LKR 13mn) and Tokyo Cement non-voting (LKR 8mn) while net foreign outflow was mainly seen in National Development Bank (LKR 9mn).

Lanka Securities Research