Brisk Trading At Colombo Stock Exchange

The Colombo Stock Exchange saw brisk trading with almost all counters appreciating with news from the war front favouring the armed forces.

The ASPI was up 19 points (+1 percent) to close 1,744 while the more liquid MPI gained 14 points (+0.8 percent) to close at 1,839. For the day 95 companies posted price gains of which 39 companies were up more than 5 percent and 23 companies were down for the day.

Sector wise, the Palms oil sector showed 6 percent gains, albeit on thin volumes of four trades, while the Hotels and Travels sector was up 5.5 percent on trades of 2 million and turnover of Rs 16 million. The market expects the leisure sector to benefit the most from the peace dividend.

Total turnover for the day was Rs 130 million with Chevron Lubricants accounting for Rs 21 million in turnover.

The share closed up Rs 1.00 at Rs 115.00. John Keells Holdings contributed Rs 16 million to turnover with the share closing unchanged at Rs 64.00. Asian Hotels and Properties saw Rs 7 million in turnover, the share closed up Rs 1.50 at Rs 30.00 a share.

Other hotel sector shares that performed well were Browns Beach Hotel, up Rs 4.25 (18 percent) at Rs 28.50, Serendib Hotels up Rs 2.50 (12 percent) at Rs 23.00, Keells Hotels up 75 cents (12 percent) to Rs 7.25, Reefcomber up 10 cents (10 percent) to Rs 1.10 and Eden Hotels up Rs 1.00 (+10 percent) to Rs 11.50. Hotel Services which owns Ceylon Continental saw its share price increase by Rs 21.25 (+14) to Rs 175.00 due to the property revaluation done on the hotel. The assets were now valued at Rs 5.1 billion.

Asian markets were mixed with Japan’s Nikkei up 0.2 percent and while Hang Seng up one percent.