Colombo equities extended losses on negative sentiments on Monday ahead of the first monetary policy meeting of the year. Fears of further rise in interest rates kept the activity levels down and ASI shed 0.8% (-51.68 index points) to close at 6,068.31 marking the biggest intra-day loss of this year so far. Blue-chip S&P SL 20 index lost 1.1% (-39.81 index points) to close at 3,466.32.
Drop in prices in Melstacorp (LKR 65.00, -4.3%), Nestle (LKR 1,950.10, -2.4%) and Dialog Axiata (LKR 10.40, -2.8%) contributed most to the index decline.
Market activity remained muted and the turnover reached LKR 394mn largely driven by the activity in John Keells Holdings (LKR 84mn), Teejay Lanka (LKR 74mn) and Expolanka Holdings (LKR 57mn). Crossings were seen in Teejay Lanka (1mn shares at LKR 38.00 per share) and Expolanka Holdings (5mn shares at LKR 5.70 per share). Crossings accounted for 24% of the turnover.
Market activity was mostly concentrated on Teejay Lanka and John Keells Holdings. Teejay Lanka continued to witness selling pressure and closed at LKR 37.50, down 3.6% on its XD. John Keells Holdings gained 0.5% to close at LKR 141.90, also on its XD. Further activity was seen in Access Engineering which closed at LKR 24.50 down 0.8% despite the earnings growth of 16%YoY in December quarter.
Foreign investors were net buyers of LKR 241mn worth of shares. Top net inflows were seen in John Keells Holdings (LKR 78mn), Expolanka Holdings (LKR 55mn), Royal Ceramics (LKR 47mn) while top net outflow was seen in Seylan Bank (LKR 0.7mn). Foreign investor activity accounted for 47% of the turnover.
Source: LSL
No comments:
Post a Comment