ASPI tops 2000 mark for first time:

Dialog helps CSE to create history

BY CHANNA Kasturisinghe

AS predicted, Dialog Telekom created history yesterday on its debut at the Colombo Stock Market helping the All Share Price Index to exceed 2000 the mark for the first time in its history.

The All Share Price Index (ASPI) gained 79.6 points to close at 2,026.3 points recording its highest ever point. The previous record was 1,958.7 reached on July 26, 2005.

Dialog Telekom's share transactions contributed to 86% of the total turnover of the CSE which was recorded at 2,279.8 million. This is the second highest daily turnover recorded at the Colombo Stock Exchange.

A total of 13,255 trades were executed during the day surpassing its previous highest number of daily trades of 10,492 reached on March 17, 2005.

At the end of trading, the total market capitalization at the CSE was Rs. 613.4 Bn, the highest market capitalisation ever recorded. The market capitalisation appreciated by Rs 113.0 Bn during the day.

Sri Lanka's largest market capitalised company started trading as Dial.N000 on the main board at 9.30 a.m. following Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama transmiting a specially coded text message from a mobile phone equipped with the facility to activate the CSE systems.

The shares initially issued at Rs.12 were opened at Rs. 15 as predicted by most analysts but came down to Rs.14 due to selling pressure.

There was strong resistance at that point but buying built up gradually largely backed by foreign funds to Rs.15.25. Shares closed the day at Rs.15. Foreign funds contributed to about 87 percent of the total Dialog shares traded which was about 133 million shares.

According to unconfirmed reports well-known Kuwaiti investor Al Naqib and Raj Rajaratnam have bought a considerable amount of shares on the Dialog trading debut.

Chairman, Telekom Malaysia Berhad and Dialog Telekom Ltd, Muhammad Radzi Mansor, Chief Executive of Telekom Malaysia Bhd. Abdul Wahid Omar and Dialog Telekom CEO Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya were present when trading began yesterday.

Dialog Telekom also announced the launch of a mobile trading facility based on its GPRS portal in collaboration with Cdax - the Sri Lankan on-line trading service provider.

The Dialog IPO established several milestones and performance records on Sri Lanka's capital market, thereby adding a new dimension of dynamism to the Colombo bourse already recognised to be one of the best performing markets in Asia and the world.

It was the largest ever IPO to the value of Rs.8.5 billion. It received the highest level of subscription which amounted to Rs.56.2. The overseas subscription which was about Rs.40 billion was also the highest in the history.