Colombo equities closed on a mixed note on Monday as the benchmark All share price index extended losses to closed at 5,968.31 with a drop of 3.86 points (-0.06%) while S&P SL20 index managed to marginally gain 1.25 points (+0.04%) to closed at 3,279.92. Price depreciation in counters such as Hatton National Bank (closed at LKR 150.00, -3.9%), Sri Lanka Telecom (closed at LKR 46.10, -1.5%) and Ceylon tea services (closed at LKR 660.10, -5.6%) contributed negatively to core index performance whilst Bukit Darah (closed at LKR 600.00, +5.1%) and John Keells Holdings (closed at LKR 227.50, +1.1%) contributed favourable to the 20 Scrip S&P SL20 index performance.

Daily market turnover was LKR 464mn. Commercial bank (LKR 49mn) emerged as the top contributor to the market turnover followed by Janashakthi Insurance (LKR 41mn) and John Keells Holdings W0022 (LKR 33mn). No crossings were recorded in today’s trading session.

Losers outweighed the gainers 116 to 79, while 61 counters remained unchanged. Cash map declined to 59% from 97%. 4 counters reached 52wk high prices and 15counters touched 52wk low price levels.

Shares of Alumex commenced trading in CSE today. The share reached a high of LKR 15.20 and closed at LKR 14.20 with +1.4% gains on the IPO price of LKR 14.00.

Moreover, Arpico Finance was the mostly traded counter for the day subsequent to the listing of new shares from the recently concluded rights issue. The counter reached a new 52wk low price level and closed at LKR 71.50 (-11.2%). Additionally shares of John Keells Holdings W0023, John Keells Holdings W0022 and Alumex were traded heavily during the session.

Foreign investors were net buyers with a net inflow of LKR 56mn. Foreign participation accounted to 19% of the market activity. Net foreign inflows were seen in Commercial Bank (LKR 48mn), John Keells Holdings (LKR 22mn) and Sampath Bank (LKR 8mn) whilst net outflow was mainly seen in John Keells W0023 (LKR 13mn).

Lanka Securities Research