Heavy retail participation lifts bourse

Colombo stocks ended in green yesterday as heavy retail investor participation was seen in penny stocks. ASI advanced by 20.16 index points to closed at 7,300.82 while more sensitive MPI closed at 6,776.69 gaining 54.20 points. The 14 day RSI on All Share Index increased marginally to 46.77 from the previous day figure of 45.11.

Market turnover stood at Rs 2.0 billion. Nation Lanka Finance made the top contribution to the daily turnover with an amount of Rs 275.7 mn and attracted investor interest throughout the day.

Further, banking and finance sector counters such as Central Finance (Rs 236.5 mn) and Commercial Bank (Rs 131.3 mn) made notable contribution to the turnover.

Meanwhile, retail investor favourite Renuka Agri, Marawila Resorts and PC House were among the mostly traded counters while Marawila Resorts and Renuka Agri topped the gainers list respectively.

Lankem Development rights ended its trading as the top loser followed by illiquid counters such as Paragan Ceylon, Beruwala Walk Inn and Huejay International Investments. Foreign participation dropped to 11 percent and at the end of the day foreign investors were net sellers with net foreign outflow of Rs 123.8mn. Lanka Securities Research