Colombo shares rise

Colombo shares rose on Monday amid improved interest on blue-chip counters. Announcement made by Dialog Axiata about the acquisition of 26% stake in Digital Commerce, which owns Anything.lk e-commerce site, drove the activities levels of the counter and DIAL closed at LKR 8.10 after hitting an intra-day high of LKR 8.20. DIAL became the highest contributor (LKR 192.1mn) to the market turnover supported by the four crossing totaling to 19.4mn shares. John Keells Holdings (LKR 91.2mn) and Nestle Lanka (LKR 86.4mn) were the other notable contributors to the turnover.

Dividend-paying stocks were in the spotlight today with Nestle Lanka (LKR 1,454.0,+6.1%) and Ceylon Tobacco (LKR 750.0,+5.5%) reaching the 52 week highs.

The ASI advanced 14.46 points (+0.3%) to 5,404.86 while MPI increased by 12.52 points (+0.3%) to 4,906.14. The S&P LK 20 index added 5.49 points (+0.2%) to trade at 2,958.11. The turnover was LKR 560.5mn. Only three sectors in the index gained today namely beverage, food and tobacco sector, manufacturing sector and the financial service sector.

Among the top performers were NDB Capital Holdings with a gain of 11.6%, Ceylinco Insurance-non voting with a gain of 9.0% and Lanka Milk Foods with an increase of 7.1%.

Foreigners dominated the market activity, accounting for 67% of the market turnover and were net buyers of LKR 174mn worth of shares.