ECONOMYNEXT – The Colombo Stock Exchange indices ended up on Monday, driven by banking sector stocks, data on its site showed.
Despite high volatility in indices Colombo All Share Price Index traded above the 16,200 mark.
“Bull run is continuing,” market participants said.
“Strong buying interest is continuing. Investment interest is driven towards the tourism sector,” Dimantha Mathew, Chief Research and Strategy Officer at First Capital Holdings PLC, told EconomyNext.
The broader ASPI closed up 0.71 percent or 115.84 points at 16,373.15; while the more liquid S&P SL20 Index closed up 0.62 percent or 30.37 points at 4,969.01.
Turnover was 5.56 billion rupees, while the share volume fell 5.9 percent to 187,052,463.
Falling interest rates and doubled withholding tax has made the market attractive.
“The number of transactions are quite high,” Mathew said.
Most active volumes were seen in Sierra Cables at 39,128,095 (turnover 554,281,414.70 rupees), Dialog at 10,337,926 (turnover 135,483,189.80 rupees), Teejay Lanka at 6,733,606 (turnover 347,702,190.70 rupees) and LOLC Finance at 6,064,123 (turnover 39,512,390.20 rupees).
“There was continued interest in the banking sector (1.2 billion rupees)and capital goods sector (1.3 billion rupees)”
Cargills Bank was up 1.2 percent to 8.70, NDB ended 3.2 percent stronger at 119.50, Hayleys rose 0.4 percent stronger 129.50 and Aitken Spence closed up 0.5 percent 152.50
The third most turnover generator for the session was the food, beverage and tobacco sector with 737 million rupees in turnover.
Lion Brewery was up 0.9 percent to 1261.75, Sunshine Holdings ended 0.4 percent stronger 95.40 and Melstacrop rose 0.41 percent to 121.50.
Top contributors to the ASPI were NDB (ended 3.2% stronger at 119.50), Teejay Lanka (rose 6.3% to 52.60), DFCC Bank (climbed 2.5 % to 122.25), Ceylon Cold stores(rose 5.8% to 87.20) and HNB (up 0.7% to 330.00).
There was a net foreign outflow of 55 million rupees for the day, continuing the downward trend after recording an inflow of 194 million rupees on Thursday.
Samson Plc announced its non-independent, non-executive director, T K Bandaranayake, has resigned from its board with effect from January 20. (Colombo/Jan20/2025)
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