The Colombo Stock Exchange closed higher on Friday, ending a volatile session with modest gains on both benchmark indices as foreign investors turned net buyers.
The All Share Price Index rose 36.26 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 21,315.91, while the S&P Sri Lanka 20 added 10.53 points, or 0.18 per cent, to close at 6,005.34, the Daily Mirror reported. Hiru News carried the same index gain, closing level and turnover figure in its Sinhala market report.
Turnover reached Rs. 2.20 billion on about 66.46 million shares, with a net foreign inflow of Rs. 25.99 million.
The session was not a straight climb. The index opened near 21,320, rose sharply in early trade, then gave up most of those gains as selling pressure built towards midday, slipping close to 21,300 before recovering in the afternoon.
Utilities dominated a narrow market
The utilities sector generated roughly Rs. 501.90 million in turnover from 13.37 million shares, almost all of it in WindForce, which alone accounted for about Rs. 494.85 million. PickMe followed with Rs. 258.37 million and Sierra Cables with Rs. 245.95 million.
Crossings — pre-arranged block trades negotiated off the order book — contributed about Rs. 160.31 million, or roughly 7 per cent of equity turnover. The largest was in Softlogic Capital, where 6.67 million shares changed hands at Rs. 11.00, worth about Rs. 73.34 million. Hatton National Bank and John Keells Holdings recorded crossings of Rs. 66.88 million and Rs. 20.09 million.
Market breadth was marginally positive, with 108 securities advancing against 102 declining.
Cargills was the strongest positive contributor, adding 13.31 points, supported by Hayleys, Nations Trust Bank, Haycarb and Commercial Bank. Sampath Bank was the heaviest drag, subtracting 13.75 points, with Lion Brewery, John Keells Holdings, Citizens Development Business Finance and Seylan Bank also weighing on the index.
The gain does not undo the week
Friday’s rise is smaller than it looks. Working back from the close, the index finished Thursday at about 21,279.65 — some 65 points below the 21,344.77 it recorded on Monday. Friday recovered a little over half of that, leaving the market lower across the week and still short of the 21,479 it held on August 18, before three consecutive days of decline.
Underlying activity, however, was stronger than the headline turnover suggests. Monday’s Rs. 16.85 billion was inflated by roughly Rs. 15.83 billion of crossings in CT Holdings and Cargills, leaving about Rs. 1 billion of ordinary trading. Stripping out Friday’s much smaller crossings leaves roughly Rs. 2.04 billion — about double Monday’s ordinary volume.
That the index rose at all is worth noting: the largest negative contributor outweighed the largest positive, so the advance rested on breadth rather than on any one heavyweight.
