Colombo bourse closed in negative territory on Wednesday after six consecutive days of gains. Core index lost 6.21 points or 0.09% to end at 7,254.43 while S&P SL 20 index lost 7.46 points or 0.19 % to end at 4,022.63. Price declines in counters such as Commercial Leasing & Finance (closed at LKR 4.60, -4.2%), Bukit Darah (closed at LKR 725.00, -1.4%) and Shalimar (Malay) (closed at LKR 1,925.00, -6.1%) contributed adversely to the index performance.

Price movements in sectors such as Oil palm, Power & energy and Footwear & Textiles affected negatively to the index movement.

Market turnover was LKR 1.5bn. George Steuart Finance positioned at the top of the turnover list with LKR 400mn followed by John Keells Holdings (LKR 108mn) and LB Finance (LKR 93mn). Several crossings were recorded in George Steuart Finance (15.8mn shares at LKR 22.20 per share), LB Finance (0.5mn shares at LKR 170.00 per share) and Chevron Lubricants (0.2mn shares at LKR 340.00 per share). The aggregate value of crossings represented 33% of the total market turnover.

As per the announcement made, Deshodaya Development Finance Company Limited purchased approx. 16mn voting ordinary shares of George Steuart Finance. Accordingly the above company has acquired 70.25% of the issued share capital of George Steuart Finance.

Losers surpassed the gainers 108 to 104, while 71 counters remained unchanged. Cash map dropped to 46% from 56%. 24 counters reached 52wk high prices.

Shares of George Steuart Finance, Muller & Phipps (Ceylon) and First Capital Holdings were traded heavily during the session.

Foreign investors were net sellers with net outflow of LKR 21mn. Foreign participation was 11%. Foreign net outflows were seen in counters such as Commercial bank non-voting (LKR 18mn), Aitken Spence (LKR 15mn) and Lanka Hospitals (LKR 10mn) while foreign net inflow was mainly seen in John Keells Holdings (LKR 8mn).

Anilana Hotels & Properties announced a right issue of approx. 110mn ordinary shares at a price of LKR 7 per share in the proportion of 02 for 07 to raise LKR 767mn. The funds raised through this rights issue will be utilized to settle part of the existing debt (LKR 167mn) and to finance the balance construction of the Dambulla hotel project (LKR 600mn).

At today’s weekly primary T-bill auction, yield on Treasury bill eased further across the board as 12 month yield declined by 37bps to 5.89%.

Lanka Securities Research