The Colombo Stock Exchange closed lower for a third consecutive session on Thursday as a fresh surge in global crude prices weighed on sentiment, with the benchmark index giving up another half a percent.
The All Share Price Index fell 108.26 points, or 0.50 per cent, to 21,357.74, while the S&P SL20 declined 29.94 points — also 0.50 per cent — to 6,003.92, the Daily Mirror reported citing Almas Equities Research. The ASPI slipped below 21,400 and briefly approached 21,350 before a modest late-session recovery.
Hiru News reported the same close, citing First Capital Research. The two accounts reconcile: the index closed at 21,466 on Wednesday, and Thursday’s 108-point fall lands exactly on 21,357.74.
The trigger: crude up more than 4 per cent again
Oil moved sharply on fresh supply risk out of the Middle East. Brent crude futures climbed 4.25 per cent — $4.30 — to $105.51 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate gained 4.24 per cent, or $4.07, to $100.12, Hiru News reported citing Bloomberg.
That puts Brent roughly $5.50 above the level at which it broke $100 for the first time since July a day earlier, and takes WTI across the $100 mark in the same run.
For Sri Lanka the transmission is direct. Higher crude raises the import bill, feeds into inflation expectations and pressures the external position — which is why an energy move originating thousands of kilometres away shows up in Colombo equity prices within a session.
Beneath the headline: thin conviction, not panic
Turnover reached Rs. 1.45 billion on 35.08 million shares. That was an improvement on the previous day, but Hiru notes it still ran 44.4 per cent below the monthly average of Rs. 2.6 billion.
The composition matters more than the total. Crossings accounted for around 38 per cent of turnover, led by a single Rs. 427.50 million block in Sampath Bank — 3.00 million shares at Rs. 142.50. The Banks sector alone contributed Rs. 600.63 million, or about 41 per cent of the day’s business, most of it from those pre-arranged trades rather than open-market demand. Hiru puts Capital Goods and Diversified Financials together at a further 25 per cent.
Strip out the crossings and the underlying session was thinner still.
Market breadth deteriorated: only 57 gainers against 151 decliners, an advance-decline ratio of 0.38. Both outlets name the same five drags in the same order — Melstacorp, Lion Brewery, Dialog Axiata, Carson Cumberbatch and Cargills. Aitken Spence was the strongest positive contributor.
Foreigners bought while locals waited
The one counter-current was foreign money. Foreign investors were net buyers, with an inflow of Rs. 16.13 million — modest in absolute terms, but moving against the direction of the index.
Retail participation stayed subdued, with investors holding to a wait-and-see stance. High-net-worth participation was around average. Both outlets read the session as caution rather than capitulation — limited buying rather than broad selling, with investors waiting for clarity on where oil settles before committing.
Not reported
Neither outlet quotes an exchange official or the Securities and Exchange Commission, identifies the counterparties to the Sampath Bank crossing, or gives a cumulative figure for the three-session decline. Neither assesses the effect of $105 crude on the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation’s import costs or on domestic fuel pricing, and no revised inflation projection is attributed to the Central Bank.
