Sri Lankan shares fall for 8th straight session in thin trade

Reuters: Sri Lankan shares fell for an eighth straight session on Thursday, closing at their lowest in more than eight months, in typical holiday-thinned trade as investors stayed away ahead of the Christmas weekend.

The Colombo stock index ended 0.28 percent weaker at 6,209.65, its lowest close since April 6. The bourse has fallen 2 percent in the last eight straight sessions through Thursday.

Turnover slumped to a near four-week low of 114.5 million rupees (about $764,608), less than a sixth of this year's daily average of 740.6 million rupees.

"A lot of people are out of office because of holiday season. Foreign trading is also very slow because of the year-end holidays in other markets as well. We see the same sentiment prevailing until the new year," said Hussain Gany, deputy CEO at Softlogic Stockbrokers.

Foreign investors bought a net 25.3 million rupees worth of shares on Thursday, extending the year-to-date net foreign inflow to 625.7 million rupees into equities.

Banking and telecommunications sectors saw market activity, with trading in top mobile phone operator Dialog Axiata accounting for 24 percent of the day's turnover.

Shares in large cap Ceylon Tobacco Company lost 2.4 percent in lacklustre trade, while top private lender Commercial Bank of Ceylon fell 1.2 percent to drag down the overall index.

($1 = 149.7500 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Biju Dwarakanath)

Colombo Stock Exchange Market Review – 22nd Dec 2016

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Colombo Stock Exchange Trade Summary 22-Dec-2016

Colombo bourse stretched losing streak for the eight straight days in another lackluster trading session. All Share index lost 17.68 index points or 0.28% during the session to close at 6,209.65 while high cap constituent, S&P SL 20 index dipped by 12.20 index points or 0.35% to end at 3,478.15.

High caps namely, Ceylon Tobacco (closed at LKR 819.90, -2.4%), Commercial Bank (closed at LKR 141.30, -1.2%) and Lanka Orix Leasing (closed at LKR 73.00, -2.0%) drove the index down.

Daily market turnover was LKR 115mn with absence of negotiated transactions. Dialog Axiata emerged as the top contributor to the turnover with LKR 27mn followed by Cargills (LKR 9mn), Chevron Lubricants (LKR 8mn) and Hatton National Bank non-voting (LKR 8mn).

Market breadth was negative where out of 186 stocks traded, 67 slipped, 35 advanced. High investor activity was witnessed in Lanka IOC, John Keells Holdings and Chevron Lubricants.

Brac Lanka Finance intends to raise LKR 1.3bn via rights issue of shares in proportion of 05 new ordinary shares for every 04 ordinary shares held, in order to comply with the minimum capital requirements.

Foreign investors were net buyers with a net foreign inflow of LKR 25mn. Foreign participation was 21%. Net foreign inflows were seen in Dialog Axiata (LKR 27mn), Hatton National Bank non-voting (LKR 7mn), Union Bank (LKR 1mn) while net foreign outflow was mainly seen in Chevron Lubricants (LKR 7mn).

Meanwhile, rupee against dollar reached its highest value in history of LKR 152.12. During the year, rupee depreciated 4.1% against the last year depreciation of 9.6% (CY2015).
Source: LSL