The Colombo Stock Exchange closed higher for a third consecutive session on Friday, with both benchmark indices gaining more than 1 percent.
The All Share Price Index rose 225.33 points, or 1.05 percent, to 21,620.44. The S&P Sri Lanka 20, which tracks the market’s largest and most liquid counters, added 63.67 points, or 1.06 percent, to 6,058.92, clearing the 6,000 mark that Thursday’s reports disagreed over.
Turnover was Rs. 2.68 billion on about 79.02 million shares. Hiru News noted that figure sits below the year-to-date daily average of Rs. 3.96 billion.
The index opened near 21,420 and climbed through the session, moving above 21,500 in the morning and beyond 21,600 in the afternoon before easing from an intraday high above 21,630, the Daily Mirror reported.
What drove it
Food, Beverage and Tobacco dominated activity with roughly Rs. 644.91 million in turnover from 21.70 million shares. Sunshine Holdings alone accounted for about Rs. 472.65 million of that — the largest single-counter turnover of the day — followed by Dialog Axiata at Rs. 139.14 million and ACL Cables at Rs. 101.23 million.
Dialog Axiata was the strongest positive contributor to the ASPI, adding 28.05 index points, with Hayleys, RIL Property, Ceylon Cold Stores and Colombo Dockyard also supporting the advance. Browns Investments was the largest drag, taking 10.87 points off the index, alongside Lion Brewery, Carson Cumberbatch, Melstacorp and National Development Bank.
Crossings were light at about Rs. 160.32 million, roughly 6 percent of equity turnover — a sharp fall from Thursday, when negotiated deals made up some 38 percent. The largest was in Vallibel One, where 643,571 shares changed hands at Rs. 90.00 for about Rs. 57.92 million, with further crossings in Sunshine Holdings, ACL Cables, C T Holdings and East West Properties.
Foreign investors were net sellers, with an outflow of Rs. 66.99 million, reversing Thursday’s modest net inflow.
Where the two accounts differ
Both outlets report the same index levels, percentage moves and turnover, and both describe the session as broadly based. They differ on market breadth. The Daily Mirror counted 175 advancing counters against 57 decliners, an advance-to-decline ratio of 3.07. Hiru put it at 164 gainers against 55 decliners. Both figures point to the same conclusion — buying was widespread rather than concentrated — but neither outlet flagged the gap. The same two-outlet pattern of agreeing on levels while differing on a secondary measure has recurred through this week’s sessions.
Hiru also placed the day in a wider frame the Daily Mirror did not. It attributed the rise partly to a positive regional environment, with major Asian indices up more than 1 percent after gains on Wall Street, as traders pared expectations of a US Federal Reserve rate move in September. And despite the three-session run, Hiru noted the ASPI remains 4.44 percent lower year to date, with the S&P SL20 down 1.60 percent.
The Daily Mirror’s market report is credited to Almas Equities Research rather than to the newspaper’s own staff.
The gain built through the afternoon
A midday report from a third newsroom shows the session strengthening as it went on. At late morning the ASPI was up just 79.28 points, or 0.37 percent, at 21,474.39, and the S&P SL20 up 27.95 points, or 0.47 percent, at 6,023.20, EconomyNext reported. Most of the day’s move therefore came after midday: the ASPI added a further 146.05 points in the afternoon, so its closing gain of 225.33 points was nearly three times the morning’s. The S&P SL20 followed the same shape, its closing gain of 63.67 points more than double the 27.95 it held at late morning. Turnover tells the same story — Rs. 248.3 million by late morning, with materials leading on Rs. 108.98 million, against Rs. 2.68 billion by the close.
EconomyNext named the morning’s positive contributors as Hatton National Bank (up 0.66 percent at Rs. 379.75), Dialog Axiata (up 0.86 percent at Rs. 46.90), Royal Ceramics Lanka (up 2.51 percent at Rs. 49.10), Ceylon Cold Stores (up 1.85 percent at Rs. 124.00), Sunshine Holdings (up 2.08 percent at Rs. 29.40) and Sampath Bank (up 0.18 percent at Rs. 139.00). Commercial Development Company was a leading drag, down 2.51 percent at Rs. 35.00.
Kotagala Plantations to absorb its subsidiary
The session also carried one corporate announcement. Kotagala Plantations said it had resolved to amalgamate with Rubber and Allied Products (Colombo), a subsidiary it owns 99.999 percent of, subject to shareholder approval.
Under the proposal, minority shareholders holding a combined nine shares in Rubber and Allied Products will receive cash consideration of Rs. 8.10 a share, and the parent company’s shares in the subsidiary will be cancelled. Kotagala Plantations traded up 1.23 percent at Rs. 8.20 at midday.
The nine-share minority is the whole of the outside interest, so the amalgamation is a tidying-up of an all-but-wholly-owned holding rather than a transaction of scale.
Not reported
Neither outlet gave a net foreign flow figure for the week, or said whether the S&P SL20’s return above 6,000 reflects a sustained shift. EconomyNext confirms Sunshine Holdings was among the day’s gainers but reports no corporate announcement behind its turnover, and none of the three gives a timetable or shareholder-meeting date for the Kotagala amalgamation.
