By Hiran H.Senewiratne
CSE trading started on a positive note yesterday but subsequently shares slipped in mid- market trade. The market is on slow sentiment after the holidays and neutral sentiment prevails in the macro-economic arena, stock market analysts said.
With dull market conditions, low investor participation and low turnover level below the average level created some negative sentiment in the market. Both indices moved downwards. The All- Share Price Index went down by 41.3 points and S and P SL20 declined by 19.5 points. Turnover stood at Rs 856 million sans a single crossing during the day.
In the retail market, top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were; Lanka IOC Rs 254 million (1.2 million shares traded), Softlogic Life Insurance Rs 100.6 million (1.3 million shares traded), Expolanka Holdings Rs 94.3 million (522,000 shares traded), Sanasa Development Bank Rs 39.6 million (1.8 million shares traded), Browns Investments Rs 34 million (4.8 million shares traded), Softlogic Capital PLC Rs 23.9 million (3.5 million shares traded) and Hayleys Fabrics Rs 22.3 million (1 million shares traded). During the day 47.9 million share volumes changed hands in 11000 transactions.
It is said high net worth and institutional investor participation was noted in Cargills and Hemas Holdings. Mixed interest was observed in Lanka IOC, Softlogic Life Insurance and Expolanka Holdings while retail interest was noted in SMB Leasing non-voting, Browns Investments and Softlogic Capital.
The Food & Staples Retailing sector was the top contributor to the market turnover (due to Cargills) while the sector index edged up by 0.02 per cent. The share price of Cargills closed flat at Rs. 235.
The Capital Goods sector was the second highest contributor to the market turnover (due to Hemas Holdings), while the sector index increased by 1.10 per cent.
Yesterday, the Central Bank’s US dollar rate was recorded at Rs 365.94.
At the T-Bill auction held yesterday, Weighted Average Yield Rate for 91-day bills stood at 32.64%.
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