Investors take new positions

Retail play was shaky yesterday as most investors were booking profits whilst some were taking new positions to further benefit from the prevailing positive sentiment. A period of consolidation is on the cards as market RSI has reached a high level. Institutional participation was evident but was relatively overshadowed by its retail peers.

ASI gained 5.45 points (0.09%) to close at 5,967.62 and the S&P SL20 Index gained 3.78 points (0.11%) to close at 3,363.14. Turnover was Rs. 846.6Mn.

Top contributors to turnover were Colombo Dockyard with Rs.146.1Mn, Colombo Land & Development with Rs.93.1Mn and Commercial Bank with Rs. 60.6Mn.

Most active counters for the day were Touchwood Investments, Colombo Land & Development and Central Investments & Finance. Notable gainers for the day were Environmental Resource Investments warrant-6 up by 19.2% to close at Rs. 3.10, Environmental Resource Investments warrant-3 up by 17.7% to close at Rs. 2 and Convenience Foods up by 9.8% to close at Rs. 220 Notable losers for the day were Industrial Asphalts down by 7.0% to close at Rs. 250.10, Citizens Development Bank down by 5.7% to close at Rs. 31.50 and Citrus Waskaduwa down by 5.2% to close at Rs. 7.30.

Cash map was 39.63%. Foreign participation was 12.0% of total market turnover with net foreign buying of Rs. 114.6Mn.

Lanka Securities Research