Indices move up on thin volumes

BOURSE: The indices showed a positive trend last week though activity levels remained depressed.

ASPI (All Share Price Index) closed the week at 2824.6 points up by 2.11% compared to last week while the more sensitive MPI (Milanka Price Index) stood at 3890.4 up by 3.6%.

JKH this week managed to become the largest contributor towards weekly turnover by a considerable margin. JKH during the week contributed Rs.227 million toward market turnover.

The highest turnover for JKH during the week was seen of Friday, as the Counter generated Rs.119 million on Friday alone.

The counter traded within a narrow range of Rs.148 and Rs.145 this week while closing the week at Rs.147 down by 0.67% compared to last week’s closing price.

Tokyo Cement also managed to gain investor interest this week after the Company announced a 1 for 1 bonus issue.

Tokyo non-voting share became the second highest contributor toward this week’s turnover contributing Rs.70.6 million, while Tokyo voting share contributed Rs.15.2 million towards weekly turnover.

Non-voting share closed the week at Rs.25 up by 16% compared to last week, while the voting share closed the week at Rs.275.75 up by 8%.

Dialog also remained among investor interest this week becoming the third highest contributor towards weekly turnover.

This week Dialog share price appreciated sharply after an initial adverse reaction to a rights issue announcement made by the company last Friday.

During the week Dialog traded at a high of Rs.28 and a low of Rs.24.25 to close the week at Rs.27 up by 12.5% WoW. Dialog contributed Rs.64.2 million towards this week’s turnover.

The fixed line telecom giant SLT also managed to attract considerable investor interest this week.

The counter contributed Rs.43.5 million towards the weekly turnover while trading within a range of Rs.39.25 and Rs.37.75. The counter closed the week at Rs.38.50 gaining 1.3% compared to last week’s closing price.

Turnover for the week amounted to Rs.784.9 million, compared to last week’s total activity of Rs.548 million.

However last week’s trading days were limited to four making it difficult to do a direct comparison of week on week activity levels.

Average daily turnover for this week stood at Rs.157 million which is marginally up by 14.5% compared to Rs.137 million recorded for last week.

Foreign investors were net buyers this week amounting to Rs.5.6 million. Foreign purchases showed a 44% improvement to stand at Rs.273.5 million, while foreign sales witnessed a 38% increase to amount to Rs.267.9 million.

Foreign participation remained flat at 34.5% of total activity levels for the week. Tokyo Cement, Dialog, JKH, SLT and Reefcomber were among the highest traded stocks for the week.

Point of view

Another short week ahead; activity to remain low, the Market managed to gain last week’s lost ground, with the two telecom counters setting the direction.

Nevertheless the activity levels remained low with some of the investors opting to take a wait and see approach.

Overall the All Share Price Index (ASPI) gained by 2.11 % during the week while Milanka Price Index (MPI) appreciated by 3.64% compared to last week’s closing levels.

Market to remain volatile

The volatility in indices that we saw during the last few weeks is likely to continue in the coming week, as investors would look for profit taking opportunities at regular intervals.

Furthermore we do not expect a sizable increase in activity levels during next week with trading only limited to three days.

Thus we advise investors to closely monitor the market in order to capitalise on the possible trading opportunities in the market place while closely monitoring the quarterly performance of companies in order to invest in growth sector counters.

(This information has been compiled from sources that we believe to be reliable but we do not hold ourselves responsible for its completeness or accuracy. HNB Stockbrokers (Private) Limited has the sole copyright for this report and the information and views contained cannot be reproduced or quoted in part or whole in any form whatsoeverwithout the written permission from HNB Stockbrokers (Private) Limited. If anyone does such reproduction or quotation that person will be violating our legal rights and liable for the legal consequences therefore.)