Positive sentiments witnessed in market last week

Stock market: The market continued to remain volatile; as investors seemed puzzled as to which way the market should move. Continuing with the positive sentiment witnessed last Friday the market started off well this week with the All Share Price Index (ASPI) moving up by 41 points on Monday.

However, the negative sentiment witnessed over the last couple of weeks, crept in once again as the indices continued to slip during the remaining part of the week.

During the Week ASPI dropped by12 points to close the week at 2559.5 while the more sensitive Milanka Price Index (MPI) dropped by 51.8 points to close the week at 3614.4 points.

Dialog for the second successive week managed to become the highest contributor towards weekly turnover, though the turnover this week being significantly lower than what was witnessed last week. Dialog this week contributed Rs.1.29 billion towards market turnover with a significant 41 million shares been traded on Monday alone.

The Counter traded within a range of Rs.26.5 and Rs.24.50. The Counter traded ex rights this week, which caused the share price to decline by 4.8% to close at Rs.24.75.

JKH continued to attract investor interest as the Counter managed a turnover of Rs.795 million this week. Despite negative sentiment in the market, JKH share price managed to close this week at Rs.146.50 up by 1.5%. During the week the counter traded within a range of Rs.149 and Rs.144.75.

Tokyo Cement, which was entangled in the controversial bonus issue under the new companies act, managed to become the third highest contributor towards market turnover this week. Tokyo non-voting contributed Rs.207 million towards market turnover while the voting share contributed Rs.24.6 million.

However the voting share closed the week at Rs.21, down by 5.6% while the voting share gained 1.9% this week to close at Rs.260.

SLT also continued to be among investor interest while contributing Rs.33.17 million towards market turnover. The Counter traded within a range of Rs.38 and Rs.36 while closing the week at Rs.36.25.

Total market turnover for the week stood at a healthy 2.68 billion, though being significantly lower than what was witnessed last week. The average daily turnover for this week amounted to Rs.537 million, which is a 65% reduction from the mammoth Rs.1.56 billion witnessed last week.

Foreign investors continued to remain net buyers this week amounting to Rs.672.1 million. The net inflow increased this week by 43% compared to last week while foreign purchases and sales for the week stood at Rs.2.33 billion and Rs.1.66 billion respectively. Dialog, Tokyo Cement, JKH, Seylan Bank (NV), SLT were among the highest traded stocks for the week.

The market remained volatile this week as the All Share Price Index (ASPI) fluctuated within a wide range of 53 point during this week's trading. The activity levels stood healthy during the week as investors were trying to capitalize on trading opportunities in the back of fluctuations in indices.

Overall the ASPI lost marginally by 0.47% during the week compared to previous week's closing levels.

We expect the market to remain volatile during the coming week providing trading opportunities for investors. However investors should be careful in selecting stocks even for trading purposes as the tension in the peace front could dampen the market sentiment further. Thus we advise investors to stick fundamentally sound Counters during these volatile times and to take profits at regular intervals.

("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. No matter published herein create any liability of any kind of HNB Stockbrokers (Private) Limited or its associates.)