Colombo bourse wrapped the weekly operations on Friday with mixed results amid the new government’s decision to suspend country’s largest foreign direct investment project, the Colombo Port City. Index moved sideways during the session where main index reached to intra-day high of 7,205.73 but closed lower.

Main index shed 18.70 index points or 0.26% to close at 7,183.50 while S&P SL20 index managed to bag 4.21 index points (+0.10%) to end at 4,097.05.

Price depreciations in Ceylon Tobacco (closed at LKR 1,070.00, -1.4%), Shalimar (closed at 2,200.00, -8.0%), Hayleys (LKR 325.00, -3.9%) affected to the main index performance while price inclines in Aitken Spence (closed at LKR 106.80, +2.6%), Sampath Bank (closed at LKR 275.00, +2.2%), DFCC Bank (closed at LKR 223.00, +2.1%) contributed favorably 20-scrip S&P SL index performance.

Daily market turnover reached to LKR 1.4bn. John Keells Holdings topped the turnover list with LKR 430mn followed by Distilleries (LKR 267mn) & Hatton National Bank (LKR 118mn).

Numerous crossings were seen in Distilleries (0.5mn shares at LKR 240.00), John Keells Holdings (0.3mn shares at LKR 205.00) and Nations Trust Bank (0.4mn shares at LKR 105.00). Aggregate value crossings represented 32% of the total turnover.

Losers outweighed gainers 113 to 72, while 63 counters remained unchanged. Cash map declined to 40% from 44%. 15 counters touched 52wk low prices while Hatton National Bank non-voting and Sampath Bank reached 52wk high prices of LKR 186.50 and LKR 275.00 respectively.

F L C Holdings and John Keells Holdings warrant 22 counters were heavily traded during the session. Both counters reached 52wk low price of LKR 1.80 & LKR 32.90 but managed close higher at LKR 1.90 (+5.6%) and LKR 33.00 (-2.4%) respectively. Further, Lanka IOC, John Keells Holdings and Sampath Bank were among mostly traded counters.

Foreign investors were net buyers for the fourth consecutive day with a net inflow of LKR 312mn. Foreign participation was second highest for this year with 52%. Net foreign inflows were seen in John Keells Holdings (LKR 226mn), Commercial Bank (LKR 32mn) and Sampath Bank (LKR 30mn) while net foreign outflow was mainly seen in Hatton National Bank (LKR 51mn).

During the week core index lost 117.79 points or 1.61% while S&P SL 20 index shed 18.83 points or 0.46%. John Keells Holdings emerged as the top contributor to the weekly turnover with LKR 1.7bn followed by Distilleries (LKR 434mn) and Commercial Bank (LKR 187mn).

Regnis Lanka, F L C Holdings and Hatton National Bank non-voting were among top gainers while Dunamis Capital, First Capital Holdings, Tokyo Cement non-voting were top losers of the week.

Foreign investors were net buyers for the week with net inflow of LKR 645mn. Foreign participation was 42%. Net foreign inflows were seen in John Keells Holdings (LKR 518mn), Access Engineering (LKR 85mn) and Commercial Bank (LKR 80mn) while net foreign outflow was mainly seen in Hatton National Bank (LKR 89mn), Distilleries (LKR 42mn) and DFCC Bank (LKR 41mn).

At the weekly T-bill auction on Tuesday, 12 month T-bill yield further increased sharply by 86bps to 6.99% while 3 month and 6 month T-bill yields increased by 91bps and 89bps to 6.89% and 6.98% respectively. During the year, 12 month T-bill rates increased by 99bps while 3 month and 6 month advanced by 115bps & 114bps respectively.

Lanka Securities Research