Colombo stock market wrapped the weekly operations on an optimistic note ahead of the 19th amendment to the constitution to be presented in the parliament on Monday (20th April 2015). Main index declined to 7,067 in the opening hours but managed closed higher gaining 9.14 index points (+0.13%) to end at 7,086.41 while 20-scrip S&P SL index advanced by 21.46 index points or 0.54% to record a 3-week high of 4,012.56.

Price appreciations in counters such as Hatton National Bank (closed at LKR 225.50, +0.2%), Access Engineering (closed at LKR 24.20, +7.6%) and Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings (closed at LKR 72.00, +5.1%) contributed positively to the index performance.

Daily market turnover was LKR 717mn. John Keells Holdings topped the turnover list with LKR 161mn underpinned by several crossings of 0.5mn shares at LKR 209.00. Counter accounted for 15% of the total turnover. Access Engineering & Distilleries were next best contributors to the turnover with LKR 70mn & LKR 64mn.

Several crossings were recorded in Hatton National Bank (0.2mn shares at LKR 227.00), DFCC Bank (0.1mn shares at LKR 210.00), Tokyo Cement (0.6mn shares at LKR 55.00) & Distilleries (0.3mn shares at LKR 240.00). Aggregate value of crossings represented 36% of the total turnover.

Out of 231 counters, 111 advanced, 78 slipped while 42 remained unchanged. Cash map advanced to 60% from 49% . 3 counters managed to reach 52wk high prices while Cargills (Ceylon) touched 52wk low price of LKR 134.50 but closed higher at LKR 135.00.

Access Engineering was the most favored counter of the session where counter advanced to LKR 24.20 and closed lower at LKR 24.20 (+7.6%). Further textile manufacturing counters such as Textured Jersey and Hayleys MGT attaracted heavy investors preference. Textured Jersey counter reached 52wk high price of LKR 25.70 and closed below at LKR 25.60 (+1.6%) while Hayleys MGT advanced by 5.4% to LKR 19.40.

First Capital Holdings, Dunamis Capital and Entrust Securities were among heavily traded counters.

All three counters of John Keells Holdings witnessed higher investor participation during the session. Main share remained unvaried at LKR 209.00 while both warrant 0022 and warrant 0023 declined to LKR 27.60 (-2.1%) and LKR 42.30 (-2.1%) respectively.

Foreign investors were net sellers for the second consecutive day with a net outflow of LKR 32mn. Foreign participation was 44%. Net foreign outflows were seen in Hatton National Bank (LKR 41mn), Dialog Axiata (LKR 30mn), Union Bank (LKR 14mn) while net foreign inflow was mainly seen in Tokyo Cement (LKR 39mn).

During the week the main index bagged 185.35 points or 2.69% while S&P SL 20 index advanced by 124.23 points or 3.19%. John Keells Holdings topped the weekly turnover list with LKR 686mn followed by Distilleries (LKR 426mn) & Hatton National Bank (LKR 248mn).

George Steaurt Finance, First Capital Holdings, Entrust Securities were among the top gainers of the week while Ceylinco Insurance, Lanka Aluminium, Kelsey Developments were among the top losers of the week. Market PE notably increased to 13.6x from 13.2x.

Foreign investors were net sellers for the week with a net outflow of LKR 228mn. Foreign participation was 54%. Net foreign outflows were seen in Distilleries (LKR 214mn), Hatton National Bank (LKR 116mn) and Seylan Bank (LKR 46mn) while net foreign inflows were mainly seen in Dialog Axiata (LKR 87mn), John Keells Holdings (LKR 63mn) and Tokyo Cement (LKR 38mn). Subsequent to the net outflows, year-to-date net foreign inflow declined to LKR 3.4bn.

Meanwhile at the Treasury bill auction, 12M T-Bill yield declined by 30bps to 6.60% while 3M yield declined to 6.26% by 30bps and 6M yield declined to 6.53% by 30bps. CBSL offered LKR 24.0bn worth of Treasury Bills and the auction was oversubscribed by 3.2 times, with bids received amounting to LKR 77.1bn. It was decided to accept LKR 25.6bn.

Lanka Securities Research