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by Ravi Ladduwahetty

The Colombo bourse yesterday reacted positively to the successful completion of the first round of the Government-LTTE peace talks with the daily turnover rising to Rs. 778.7 million, the highest daily turnover for the year and the third highest daily turnover in its history.

Analysts told the Daily News last night that the All Share Price Index (ASPI) which opened the day at 830.1 points, moved up by 8.8 points to close the day at 838. 9 points, the highest since August 1997, while the Milanka Price Index (MPI) which opened the day at 1435.9 points, moved up by 1449.9 points, recording the highest ever Index. The ASPI growth was 5.3 percent and the MPI growth was 6.4 percent during the week.

The market was also propped up by foreign buying with purchases of Rs. 189.9 million and sales of Rs. 172.9 million.

Another salient feature of the day's trading was that foreigners purchased into International Development Ltd, a company owned by business magnate Nahil Wijesuriya where 4,857,480 shares were sold for Rs. 170 million. This made it the first instance where 100 per cent of the equity of a company was sold in the bourse to a single buyer and that too a foreign buyer. This also enabled the company's shares to rise to Rs. 35 from the par value of Rs. 10.

A 2.4 million slab of John Keells Holdings shares worth Rs. 198 million were sold which included Rs. 164 million worth foreign buying. The JKH share, up Rs. 1.75, closed at Rs. 82.

In a separate development, 9.2 million shares of East West, amounting to 53 per cent of the company, was sold by the main shareholder to a foreign party. The share was up Rs. 8.25, and closed in at Rs. 51.

A slab of 2.3 million shares of Lighthouse Hotels was sold where the broking price was Rs. 14. The deal yielded Rs. 32 million. A slab of 131,000 Commercial Bank shares was also sold, up Rs. 5 to Rs. 225. The total commercial bank shares sale was valued at Rs. 30 million of which Rs. 29 million were in foreign purchases.

A slab of 700,000 shares of Lanka Walltiles valued at Rs. 27.6 million were sold where the closing price was Rs. 36, up Rs. 2.

Another slab of 287,000 National Development Bank (NDB) shares were sold at Rs. 26.7 million where the share gained 25 cents and settled at Rs. 95.

The other foreign purchases which enabled stocks to change hands in listed companies were: East West- Rs. 50 million, Commercial Bank- Rs. 29 million, Lanka Lubricants- Rs. 12.4 million, John Keells Holdings Ltd-Rs. 11.4 million, Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings- Rs.4.9 million, National Development Bank- Rs. 4.3 million and Hayleys - Rs. 2.9 million.

Of the top gainers apart from the IDL share which went up by Rs. 25 to Rs. 35, there were Browns which went up by Rs. 15 to Rs. 80, Sigiriya Village up Rs.7.50 to Rs. 35, Aitken Spence up Rs. 5.50 to Rs. 140, Commercial Bank up Rs.5 to Rs. 225, E.B. Creasy up Rs. 5 to Rs. 28 and Richard Peiris up Rs. 5 to Rs. 125.

Volume wise the large parcels were: Colombo Fortland Buildings- 1.7 million, Ceylinco Seylan Developments - 1.6 million, Merchant Bank - 1.6 million, Vanik- 1.1 million, Asian Hotels - 1.1 million and Kelani Tyres - 850,000 shares, Lanka Walltiles - 767,000 and Grain Elevators-691,000.

Colombo Fortland Buildings was up 75 cents to Rs. 5.50, Ceylinco Seylan Developments - up 75 cents to Rs.4.50, Merchant Bank - up 75 cents to Rs. 6.50, Vanik - up Rs. 2, Asian Hotels - up 50 cents to Rs. 14.75 and Kelani Tyres-up 50 cents to Rs. 8.25, Lanka Walltiles, up Rs. 2 to Rs. 36, Lanka Milk Foods, up Rs. 1 to Rs. 11.50 and Grain Elevators, up Rs.1 to Rs. 18.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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