Tuesday 17 July 2018

Sri Lankan shares rise to 3-wk high on foreign buying

Reuters: Sri Lankan shares climbed to their highest close in nearly three weeks on Tuesday, with foreign trading accounting for about 40 percent of the session’s turnover.

The Colombo stock index ended 0.8 percent firmer at 6,179.88, its highest close since June 29.

“Heavyweights helped the market recover sharply today. We have seen value picking,” said Hussain Gani, deputy CEO, Softlogic Stockbrokers.

“The foreign trade helped the sentiment to improve.”

Turnover stood at 454.9 million rupees ($2.9 million), around half of this year’s daily average of 892.3 million rupees.

Foreign investors bought equities net worth 7.2 million rupees on Tuesday. But they have been net sellers of 2.6 billion rupees worth equities so far this year.

Shares in conglomerate John Keells Holdings Plc rose 3 percent, while Distillers Company of Sri Lanka Plc ended 0.5 percent higher. Dialog Axiata Plc closed 2.1 percent firmer, and Sri Lanka Telecom Plc gained 2.9 percent. 

($1 = 159.7000 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal and Shihar Aneez; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri)