Colombo equities edged lower for the third straight day in lackluster trading on Thursday. ASI slipped by 13.48 index points (-0.2%) to 6,285.53 while S&P SL20 index lost 11.01 index points (-0.3%) to 3,529.61.
Concerns of capital flight amid Fed rate hike affected the investor sentiments to a certain extent and foreign favorite blue-chips such as John Keells Holdings (LKR 148.80, -2.0%) and Dialog Axiata (LKR 10.50, -1.9%) declined in today’s trading session.
However, Chevron Lubricants managed to held ground at LKR 161.30 (+0.4%) supported by the interim dividend announcement of LKR 3.50 per share. Chevron Lubricants have declared LKR 18.00 in dividends (per share) so far, pushing the stock further up in the high dividend yield list with a yield of 11%.
Market turnover fell to a three-week low of LKR 362mn. Commercial Bank (LKR 71mn) led the turnover list along with LOLC (LKR 47mn) and Dialog Axiata (LKR 44mn). The only crossing of the day was recorded in Hatton National Bank-nonvoting (0.2mn shares at LKR 190.00) and it accounted for mere 11% of the total turnover.
Apart from Chevron Lubricants, the investor interest was seen in John Keells Holdings, Commercial Credit (LKR 58.60, +1.0%) and Access Engineering (LKR 24.90, -0.4%).
As announced by S&P Dow Jones Indices, Ceylinco Insurance will be replaced by Teejay Lanka in the S&P SL 20 index with effect from 19th December 2016.
Foreign investors were net buyers with net foreign inflow of LKR 45mn. Top net inflows were seen in Commercial Bank (LKR 29mn), Access Engineering (LKR 12mn) and Hatton National Bank (LKR 8mn) while top net outflow was seen in Chevron Lubricants (LKR 7mn). Foreign participation accounted for 38% of the market activity.
According to the Department of Census & Statistics, Sri Lanka’s economy has grown by 4.1% in the third quarter of 2016. This is a significant improvement from the 2.6% reported in the second quarter. The growth was mainly driven by the Services (+4.7%) and Industry (+6.8%) sectors while the Agriculture segment contracted by 1.9%. Among the sub sectors, notable growth was seen in construction (+14.4%) and Financial & insurance activities (+12.8%). Accordingly the economy growth in first nine months of 2016 is at 4.0%.
Source: LSL
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