Colombo bourse continued its roll down the hill on Thursday (14) as it plunged to 6,446.20, down by -108.17 index points or -1.65%, proving yesterday’s increase was merely a dead cat bounce. S&P SL20 lost -65.44 index points to close at 3,340.13, a drop of -1.92%. Today’s loss caused the All share Index to lose 6.5% off the total index value which is more than the total loss experienced in the year 2015.

The Widespread negative investor sentiments prevailing in the current market were reflected by most of the sectors having almost no positive contributor to the index. Sri Lanka Telecom (closed at LKR 40.40, -9.0%), Ceylon Tobacco (closed at LKR 955.00, -1.6%), and John Keells Holdings (closed at LKR 165.90, -1.3%) drove the index down.

A healthy turnover of LKR 979mn, demonstrated an active trading session today, in which 23% was represented by crossings. 0.4mn shares (at LKR 165.50 per share) & 0.35mn shares (at LKR 166.50) of John Keells Holdings changed hands while another crossing was recorded in Ceylon Hotels Corporation where 3.3mn shares were traded at LKR 30.00 per share. Accordingly, John Keells Holdings (LKR 222mn), Dialog (LKR146mn) & Ceylon Hotels Corporation (LKR 100mn) were the top contributors to turnover.

Majority of the 236 counters traded today experienced price depreciation as 162 counters dropped, 40 increased and 34 remained unchanged. Nestle Lanka stood out as it remained the only gainer when 19 out of the 20 members of the S&P SL20 index dropped in price as the sellers dominated the market. Cash map marginally decreased from 33% to 32%.

66 scripts reached 52wk low prices, while only Harischandra Mills touched a 52wk high price. 3 subsidiaries of John Keells Holdings namely John Keells Hotels, Asian Hotels & Properties and John Keells Limited dropped to 52wk low prices. Further, high cap financial institutions and banks including Commercial Bank, National Development Bank, Nation Trust Bank, Peoples Leasing, LOLC Finance, Commercial Leasing & Finance & Seylan Bank touched one year lows by the end of today’s trading session.

High investor activity was witnessed in Chevron Lubricants as it reached a 52wk low price of LKR 299.00 but managed to close at LKR 300.00 by the end of trading. Moreover, John Keells Holdings, Commercial Bank, Nation Lanka Finance and Access Engineering were among highly traded counters.

Foreign investors closed the session on the buying side with a net foreign inflow of LKR 57mn after three consecutive sessions of outflows. Foreign participation was 29%. Net foreign inflows were seen in John Keells Holdings (LKR 44mn), Hemas Holdings (LKR 42mn) & Hatton National Bank (non-voting) (LKR 7mn) while net foreign inflows were mainly seen in Chevron Lubricants (LKR 23mn).

Amana Global Limited, a fully owned Subsidiary of Amana Takaful has transferred 10,402,558 shares of Amana Takaful (Maldives) being 51.39% of the total shares of Amana Takaful (Maldives) to Amana Takaful without any purchase consideration. This transaction has been for the purpose of restructuring the Amana Takaful Group.

28.2mn shares of Renuka Foods have been listed in CSE subsequent to a share swap agreement between CI Patel & Company Limited & Eagle View Management Limited.

During the week, main index shed 280.08 index points or 4.16% while S&P SL 20 index declined by 174.28 index points (-4.96%). Harischandra Mills (+18%), Ceylon Hotels Corporation (+7%) and Ceylon Guardian (+3%) were among the top gainers of the week, while Nation Lanka Finance (-20%), Chevron Lubricants (-12%) and Hemas Holdings (-11%) were among the top losers.

The average weekly turnover advanced by 14% to LKR 973mn. John Keells Holdings topped the weekly turnover list with LKR 798mn followed by Commercial Bank (LKR 768mn) and Hemas Holdings (LKR 157mn).

The foreign investors were net sellers during the week recording a net foreign outflow of LKR 666mn. Foreign activity was at 32%. Top net outflows were reported in Commercial Bank (LKR 572mn), John Keells Holdings (LKR178mn) and Cargills (LKR 81mn) while top net inflows were mainly seen in Hatton National Bank (non-voting) (LKR 100mn) and Overseas Realty (LKR 97mn). Subsequent to this week’s net foreign outflow, year-to-date net foreign outflow increased to LKR 2.2bn.