The Colombo Stock Exchange ended a three-session losing run on Friday, with the All Share Price Index closing up 25.00 points, or 0.12%, at 21,382.74 after losing ground in morning trading and recovering through the afternoon.
EconomyNext, filing at 3.53pm, and Hiru News give the identical ASPI close. Hiru describes the session the same way — the index declined early before reversing course and gaining for the remainder of the day.
The recovery follows the 108-point fall on Thursday that took the index to 21,357.74 as crude surged, which itself followed a 76-point decline on Wednesday. Friday’s 25 points reverse less than a quarter of Thursday’s loss alone. Hiru puts the ASPI 5.49% lower year-to-date.
The accounts split two to one on the S&P SL20 and on turnover
The more liquid S&P SL20 moved in opposite directions across the three reports. EconomyNext has it up 0.19%, or 11.16 points, at 6,015.08; Hiru has it down 0.02% at 6,002.46. A Daily Mirror market report filed at 7.53pm, credited to Almas Equities Research, gives the index down 1.46 points, or 0.02%, at 6,002.46 — the same figure as Hiru, to the cent.
Both readings are arithmetically consistent with Thursday’s 6,003.92 close, so neither is a carried-forward error, and no outlet flags a discrepancy. But EconomyNext is now the outlier two to one. Hiru separately puts the SL20 down 2.52% for the year.
Turnover splits the same way. EconomyNext reports Rs. 333 million; Hiru and the Daily Mirror both report Rs. 1.13 billion, the Daily Mirror adding that 57.73 million shares changed hands. Hiru sets that against a year-to-date daily average of Rs. 3.88 billion. On any of these figures the session was thin.
One numerical coincidence is worth recording without drawing a conclusion from it: the Daily Mirror puts capital goods turnover at Rs. 333.76 million, almost exactly EconomyNext’s figure for total market turnover. EconomyNext separately gives capital goods at Rs. 89.85 million, so the two cannot simply be the same line item mislabelled, and no outlet states its basis. EconomyNext also filed at 3.53pm against the Daily Mirror’s 7.53pm, so a provisional-versus-final count of late crossings remains the likelier explanation.
Who moved the index
Both outlets name Haycarb, Cargills (Ceylon) and Sampath Bank among the main contributors to the ASPI’s gain. EconomyNext gives the moves as Haycarb up 5.63% to Rs. 211.25, Cargills up 2.07% to Rs. 689.00 and Sampath Bank up 0.36% to Rs. 140.00, and adds LOLC Holdings, up 1.09% to Rs. 465.75.
Pulling the other way were Ceylinco Holdings (down 2.34% to Rs. 2,856.50), John Keells Holdings (down 0.52% to Rs. 19.30), Commercial Bank of Ceylon (down 0.24% to Rs. 204.50) and Hemas Holdings (down 0.64% to Rs. 31.10).
The Daily Mirror’s account names the same leaders — Haycarb the strongest positive contributor, followed by Cargills, Sampath Bank, LOLC Holdings and SMB Finance non-voting — but gives Melstacorp as the largest negative contributor, ahead of Ceylinco Insurance. Melstacorp does not appear in either of the other two reports.
It also records that John Keells Holdings had the highest individual counter turnover at Rs. 204.40 million, and that crossings accounted for around 22% of total turnover, led by two JKH.N transactions totalling roughly Rs. 135.80 million, with further crossings in Lanka IOC, JF Packaging and Singer Finance.
Market breadth was close to even but the counts differ slightly: Hiru reports 90 stocks gaining and 95 declining, the Daily Mirror 99 gainers against 100 decliners. Either way it was a rebound carried by a handful of large movers rather than a broad advance. Capital goods led turnover on all three accounts.
Galle Face Capital Partners clears a scrip dividend listing
EconomyNext reports that Galle Face Capital Partners received in-principle approval from the CSE to list up to 4,060,218 new ordinary shares by way of a scrip dividend for the financial year ended 31 March 2026.
The company’s annual general meeting is set for 23 September, with an XD date of 24 September and a record date of 25 September, subject to shareholder approval. Its shares closed down 2.45% at Rs. 19.90.
A dating note
Hiru’s report describes the rebound as having happened “yesterday.” The close it gives — 21,382.74, up 25.00 points — is Friday’s, not Thursday’s, and EconomyNext’s own Friday market report carries the same figures. The relative timing appears to be a wire artifact rather than a different session.
What the later report adds
Two gaps in the afternoon coverage are closed by the evening account. Foreign investors returned to the selling side, with a net outflow of Rs. 50.52 million. And where neither EconomyNext nor Hiru attributed the session’s shape to anything in particular, the Daily Mirror ties the volatility directly to sudden movements in global oil prices and shifting investor sentiment — the index fell towards 21,310 in early trading before recovering through the afternoon, consistent with crude at US$108 driving Thursday’s fall.
Not reported
No outlet reconciles the S&P SL20 or turnover figures, or states its basis for either. None gives a cumulative figure for the three-day decline the rebound interrupts, or says whether the crude price eased during Friday trading.
