Colombo shares ended today with mixed results as indices closed in opposite directions. Bench mark All share price index marginally advanced by 2.95 (+0.05%) points to end at 6,004.78 and S&P SL 20 index declined by 17.96 (-0.54%) points to end at 3,281.94. Price appreciations in John Keells Holdings (closed at LKR 234.00, +0.5%), Sri Lanka Telecom (closed at LKR 47.00, +3.5%) and Soft logic Holdings (closed at LKR 12.10, +12%) contributed positively to the all share price index performance while price depreciations in Bukit Darah (closed at LKR 560.00, -6.6%), Lion Brewery (closed at LKR 372.00, -4.9%) and Ceylon Tobacco (closed at LKR 1,067.10, -0.7%) contributed negatively to the S&P SL20 index performances.

Gainers outweighed the losers 104 to 79, while 61 counters unvaried during the trading session. Cash map improved to 84% from previous session’s 65%.

Daily market turnover was LKR 1.95bn. John Keells Holdings (LKR 894mn) made the biggest contribution followed by Hotel Reefcomber (LKR 399mn) and Softlogic Holdings (LKR 231mn).  Several negotiated deals were recorded today in Chevron Lubricants (0.11mn shares at LKR 272.00 per share), Hatton National Bank (0.30mn shares at LKR 152.50 per share), Hotel Reefcomber (25.66mn shares at LKR 15.50 per share) and John Keells Holdings (0.22mn shares at LKR 235.00 per share). Aggregate value of crossings was accounted to 27% of the total market turnover.

Moreover, shares of Softlogic Holdings, John Keells Holdings, John Keells Holdings W0022 and W0023 traded heavily during the trading session.

Foreign participation was 31% as net foreign investors continued to be foreign buyers with a net inflow of LKR 853mn. Net foreign inflows were mainly seen in John Keells Holdings (LKR 802.7mn), Hatton National Bank (LKR 47.5mn) and Commercial Bank (LKR 19mn) whilst foreign outflow was mainly seen in Hemas Holdings (LKR 23.7mn).

Meanwhile in today’s T-bill auction, 3-month and 6-month treasury yields eased marginally while the 12-month yield was unchanged at 7.05%. The 3-month and 6-month rates dropped to 6.64% (-1bp) and 6.81% (-1bp) respectively. 

Lanka Securities Research