Amidst Friday's gains:

Colombo bourse turns positive

Stocks were confined to a narrow trading range during the first four trading days, as investors remained cautious ahead of the earnings season. However shares climbed on Friday amid gains on blue chip stocks coupled with retail interest on selected mid cap counters.

Comparing Week on Week (WoW) the ASPI (All Share Price Index) increased 1.4 percent or 31.9 points to close the week at 2395.0 points, while the MPI (Milanka Price Index) edged up by 1.2 percent or 30.6 points to close at 2671.3 points.

JKH recorded a turnover of Rs.264.6 million for the week contributing the largest portion to the market activity. JKH share while being trading within a price band of Rs.128.50 and Rs.132.50 per share closed the week 1.6 percent up at Rs.130.00 on Friday. Total volume of JKH shares traded stood at 2.0 million for the week.

Foreign interest on Commercial Bank (COMB) saw the largest listed banking stock becoming the week's second highest contributor, with price rising 4.5 percent WoW. COMB saw most part of its turnover coming on Wednesday on the back of foreign interest. During the week the stock recorded a turnover of Rs.249.5 million with 1.9 million shares trading within a price range of Rs.127.50 and Rs.133.00 per share. COMB share ended the week at Rs.132.75.

The two midcap stocks Pan Asia (PABC) and Lanka Cement (LCEM) each contributed Rs.115.9 and Rs.90.0 million respectively towards weekly turnover. PABC observed a 14.8 percent increase in its share price for the week to close at Rs.15.50 per share while LCEM ended 8.7 percent up at Rs.28.00 per share.

Meanwhile Hotel Developers (HDEV) share price jumped by 28.2 percent for the week as investors chased the stock on speculative reasons. The HDEV stock contributed Rs.59.3 million to the weekly market turnover with 0.5 million shares changing hands. Activity levels picked up during the week dominated largely by retail investors. The total turnover for the week stood at Rs.1.6 billion, up 122.6 percent while average daily turnover was reordered at Rs.316 million compared to last week's Rs.177.6 million.

Foreign investors remained net buyers for the week amounting to Rs.75.3 million. Foreign purchases for the week stood at Rs.431.6 million, while foreign sales totaled to Rs.356.3 million. The foreign participation for the week was at 24.9 percent of total activity showing a marginal improvement compared to 23.6 percent witnessed last week.

Heavily traded stocks during the week were Pan Asia, Piramal Glass, Lanka Cement, JKH and Commercial Bank.

Point of View Look for trading opportunities

As expected by us the market remained volatile with retail investors dominating the market activity throughout the week. Overall the All Share Price Index (ASPI) gained by 1.35 percent while the Milanka Price Index (MPI) increased by 1.16 percent compared to last week's closing levels.

We expect the market to remain volatile over the coming week presenting more trading opportunities to investor community. Furthermore more companies are likely to release its earnings for the second quarter of 2009 in the coming weeks, thus we advise investors to carefully monitor these financial statements in order to pick attractive stocks.

The information contained herein has been compiled from sources that Acuity Stockbrokers (Private) Limited (ASB) believes to be true and reliable but we do not hold ourselves responsible for its completeness or accuracy. No matter published herein create any liability of any kind on ASB. All opinions, views, findings and conclusions included in this report constitute ASB's judgment of this date and are subject to change without notice.

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