Colombo stock market snapped the five day winning streak on Wednesday as both indices witnessed negative returns. All share index declined by 19.06 index points or 0.31% to close at 6,172.77 while 20-scrip S&P SL index declined by 23.87 index points or 0.70% to close at 3,373.55. Price depreciations in Bukit Darah (closed at LKR 540.00, -5.5%), Ceylon Tobacco Company (closed at LKR 1,100.00, -1.6%) and John Keells Holdings (closed at LKR 238.90, -0.4%) adversely contributed to the index performance.

Daily market turnover was LKR 671mn. Several crossings were recorded in Hatton National Bank (0.45mn shares at LKR 157.00 per share), Hatton National Bank non-voting (0.30mn shares at LKR 125.00 per share) and Sampath Bank (0.16mn shares at LKR 190.00 per share). Accordingly Hatton National Bank emerged top contributor to the market turnover with LKR 84mn followed by Hatton National Bank non-voting (LKR 74mn) & John Keells Holdings (LKR 61mn).

Losers outweighed the gainers 95 to 84, while 66 counters remained unchanged. Cash map declined to 44 from 62. Six stocks touched 52wk high prices while seven stocks reached 52wk low price levels.

Moreover Orient Garment attracted heavy investor participation during the last day of mandatory offer made by Adam Investments and Dr.T.Senthilverl. Stock closed at LKR 16.00, (+8.1%). Further Watawala Plantations, Piramal Glass & George Steuart Finance were among mostly traded stocks.

Meanwhile according to today’s auction, short term treasury yield eased marginally while the 6-month yield was unchanged at 6.79%. Accordingly 3-month yield was 6.58% (-3bps) & 12-month was 7.02% (-1bps).

Hemas Holding’s debenture issue of LKR 1.0bn opened for subscription today and was oversubscribed within hours of opening. Accordingly the issue was closed today evening. Further board of directors of MCSL Financial Services Limited has decided not to proceed with the proposed debenture issue, which was initially planned to be open for subscription tomorrow.

Foreign Participation was 34% for the day while foreign investors were net buyers with net inflow of LKR 109mn. Foreign inflows were seen in counters such as Hatton National Bank (LKR 72.7mn), John Keells Holdings (LKR 57.7mn) and Sampath Bank (LKR 39.1mn) while foreign outflow was mainly seen in Bukit Darah (LKR 42.5mn).

Lanka Securities Research