Colombo equities managed to regain lost grounds on Wednesday amid notable foreign inflow coupled with the positive quarterly earnings. Core index gained 37.57 index points or 0.51% to close at 7,358.46 while 20-scrip S&P SL index advanced by 15.86 index points (+0.39%) to end at 4,102.11. Price inclines in counters such as Lanka IOC (closed at LKR 59.50, +9.0%), Access Engineering (closed at LKR 33.30, 4.1%), and Dialog Axiata (closed at LKR 12.20, + 0.8%) contributed positively to the index performance.

Daily market turnover was LKR 2.1bn. John Keells Holdings emerged as the top contributor to the turnover with LKR 497mn underpinned by several crossings of 1.4mn shares at LKR 255.00-256.00. Lanka IOC and Sampath Bank were the next best contributors to the turnover with LKR 315mn and LKR 110mn respectively.

Several crossings were recorded in Lanka IOC (1.0mn shares at LKR 57.00) & Seylan Bank non-voting (0.5mn shares at LKR 54.00). Aggregate value of crossings represented 22% of the total turnover.

Out of 266 counters, 146 advanced, 67 slipped and 53 counters remained unchanged. Cash map advanced to 59% from 23%. 17 counters reached 52wk high prices while 5 counters touched 52wk low price levels.

Meanwhile, debenture issue of Mercantile Bank of Sri Lanka was oversubscribed within few hours of opening. Company raised LKR 2bn through this debenture issue which may increase the medium term fund base and improve lending capacity of MBSL.

Following the release of the positive quarter earnings for the July-September quarter along with the announcement of LKR 1.00 interim dividend, John Keells Holdings counter reached LKR 257.00 during the day and closed at LKR 255.00 (+0.8%).

Lanka IOC, George Steuart Finance and Softlogic Holdings attracted heavy investor preference during the session.

Subsequent to the release of interim financial statements, Seylan Bank counter reached 52wk high price of LKR 94.70 and closed at LKR 94.50 (+2.7%).

Most of the banks such as Commercial Bank (LKR 174.00, +2.6%), Hatton National Bank (LKR 198.00, +1.0%), DFCC Bank (LKR 230.50, +0.8%), National Development Bank (LKR 244.90, +0.2%), Nations Trust Bank (LKR 95.00, +1.6%), Sanasa Development Bank (LKR 98.00, +2.1%), HDFC Bank (LKR 68.10, +0.2%) advanced during the session.

Foreign investors closed the day as net buyers with net inflow of LKR 548mn worth of equities. Foreign participation was 20%. Net foreign inflows were seen in counters such as John Keells Holdings (LKR 274mn), Lanka IOC (LKR 136mn) and Sampath Bank (LKR 54mn) while net foreign outflow was mainly seen in Chevron Lubricants (LKR 5mn).

Lanka Securities Research