Indices gain ground substantially:

Activity levels rise

No significant movement was witnessed in indices during the first four trading days, with indices remaining in red during most part of the week.

However the trend turned positive on Friday with indices gaining ground substantially.

The ASPI (All Share Price Index) closed the week at 3773.7 points, gaining by 28.8 points or 0.8 percent this week.

The more sensitive MPI (Milanka Price Index) however showed a greater increase gaining by 72.0 points or 1.7 percent closing the week at 4391.2 points.

Interest in blue chip counters was seen this week, as trades in HNB and JKH managed to take the top slots in terms of contribution towards turnover. Thursday saw 25.8 million of HNB shares trading, with the contribution towards week's turnover amounting to Rs. 4.8 billion.

This trade accounted for around 45.3 percent of total turnover for the week.

HNB share prices however showed an appreciation of 2.6 percent to close the week at Rs.183.75 per share, while trading within a range of Rs.180.00 and Rs.187.00 per share for the week. JKH managed to trade approximately 15.1 million shares adding Rs.2.6 billion to market turnover.

JKH share traded within a wide range of Rs.169.25 to Rs.188.00 per share while closing the week at Rs.186.00 per share. A sizeable amount of foreign interest was witnessed on the Counter during this week's trading.

Among the other counters, which saw some interest, coming through this week were Distilleries (DIST) and Commercial Bank (COMB). Approximately 5.1 million of DIST shares traded this week, with its share price closing Rs.14.00 higher, at Rs.117.00 per share.

The contribution towards weekly turnover however remained low compared to HNB and JKH at Rs.609.3 million for the week. COMB also witnessed some interest this week with 1.7 million of its shares trading.

The share price of the counter closed at Rs.198.75 per share this week, with the counter contributing Rs.333.5 million for the week. Turnover for the week amounted to Rs. 10.4 billion, which was a 32.8 percent improvement compared to last week's total activity of Rs.7.9 billion. The Colombo bourse reached one of its highest daily turnover levels in its history on Thursday amounting to Rs.5.2 billion due to the Rs.4.7 billion transaction on HNB.

Foreign participation this week was significantly high at 42.9 percent of total activity, as the highest turnover contributors this week HNB and JKH were subjected to foreign selling. Foreign Purchases for the week totalled Rs.1.8 billion, while foreign sales were significantly higher at Rs.7.2 billion this week.

The resultant net foreign outflow amounted to Rs.5.4 billion.

Volume-wise highest traded stocks this week were, HNB, JKH, Dialog, Colombo Land and Blue Diamond (Non Voting). (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. ASB 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 whatsoever without the written permission from ASB.)