Orient stocks end high

The market ended flat yesterday where benchmark indices closed on opposite directions.

ASI closed at 5,988.65, a marginal drop of 7.27 index points (-0.12%) and MPI gained marginally by 0.44 points (+0.01%) to close at 5,156.39.

Daily market turnover was Rs 775.9mn.

Orient Garment made the highest turnover with an amount of Rs 199.4mn and was traded heavily. Nearly 4.8mn shares of Orient Garment traded during the day. Stock price reached the high of Rs 42.70 and closed at Rs 40.30, up Rs 1.50. Aitken Spence Hotels (Rs 117.1mn) and Hatton National Bank (Rs 34.8mn) were the runners up for the day. Aitken Spence Hotels recorded two crossings during the day where a total of ~1.7 mn shares changed hands at a price of Rs 66.00 per share. Heavy retail activity was seen in counters such as HVA Foods, Trade Finance and Investments and Entrust Securities.

Relatively low foreign participation was witnessed during the day and it accounted for 7.9% of the total market activity. At the end of the day foreign investors were net sellers with a net foreign outflow of Rs 34mn.

Lanka Securities Research