Colombo bourse shows upward trend

The market continued its upward trend during the week with both indices gaining over 5 percent. ASPI closed at 6457.28 points gaining 320.3 points or 5.3 percent from the previous week while the MPI recorded gain of 337.72 points to close at 6757.50.

The aggregate turnover for the week increased to Rs 21.4 b with the highest contribution of Rs 5 b coming in towards the close of the week . The weekly gain in turnover was 25 percent. The total of share volumes traded this week records at 554.58 m shares reflecting a 56.92 percent rise over the last week volumes of Rs 353.4 m.

Banking and Finance sector at 32.4 percent was the major contributor to market activity with total turnover of Rs 6.9 b. Major banks that rallied the sector were Commercial, Seylan, National Trust Bank and Sampath. The banking and finance sector index gained 2119.8 points and the diversified sector index gained 134.7 points. Diversified sector followed bringing in 20.31 percent of the total weekly turnover.

JKH leads the list of top contributors to turnover recording Rs 1.24 b amounting to 5.8 percent of total turnover trading within a price range of Rs 280.10 and Rs 290. Distilleries contributed to 5.28 percent of total turnover with its Rs 1.12 b trading volume, closing at Rs 186.50. Aitken Spence, which was awarded a LOI for development of South Port Container Terminal saw investor interest and traded between Rs 2,819.30 and Rs 2,999.60, recording turnover of Rs 998 m. Piramal Glass topped the list of heavily traded stocks this week with 66.95 m shares changing hands while Reefcomber and SMB Leasing traded 47.26 m and 40.64 m shares.

Foreign investors were net sellers this week amounting to a net outflow of Rs 22.5 m as against a net selling of Rs 2.4b last week. Foreign purchases amounted to Rs 2.31 b while foreign selling amounted to Rs 2.33 b.

Foreign trading levels indicate a decline this week with both buying and selling showing a decrease of 46.8 percent and 99.06 percent respectively.

MTD Walkers is the top price gainer for the week gaining 60.96 percent to close at Rs 595.70 as against last week’s price of Rs 370.10. Ceylon Theatres and LB Finance also recorded significant price gains week on week. Top losers were CFT, losing 89.53 percent and Colombo Pharmacy losing 13.15 percent, followed closely behind by ACME losing 11.58 percent.

Point of view

Both indices continued to gain during the week despite intra day volatility early on due to profit taking. Market capitalization surpassed Rs 2 trillion recording a gain of 86 percent year to date amounting to 42 percent of GDP. Market responded positively to the removal of 10 percent price band effective Monday 20 with both the ASPI and MPI gaining 218.83 points or 3.5 percent and 268.79 points during Thursday and Friday