The Colombo Stock Exchange closed lower for a fourth consecutive session on Thursday, with the All Share Price Index down 109.98 points, or 0.52%, to 21,023.43.
The S&P SL20 fell 22.33 points, or 0.38%, to 5,924.96. The Daily Mirror, citing Almas Equities Research, said the ASPI trended lower through most of the session and approached the 21,000 level as afternoon selling intensified. Hiru News reported identical index levels and point moves.
Turnover was Rs. 1.33 billion on 55.41 million shares. Capital Goods led sector activity with Rs. 282.21 million, while PickMe recorded the highest individual counter turnover at Rs. 161.82 million.
Crossings accounted for about 33 per cent of turnover, led by a Rs. 155 million block in PickMe — meaning almost the whole of PickMe’s turnover was a single negotiated deal rather than open-market trading. Other crossings were recorded in Hayleys, Commercial Bank, John Keells Holdings, Melstacorp and Sunshine Holdings.
Stripping crossings out leaves roughly Rs. 0.89 billion of ordinary participation, against Hiru’s year-to-date daily average of Rs. 3.84 billion. That is weaker than either of the two preceding sessions, which produced about Rs. 1.26 billion on Wednesday and Rs. 1.07 billion on Tuesday.
Breadth was firmly negative at 50 gainers to 152 decliners. Foreign investors were net sellers of Rs. 213.08 million — a sharp step up from Wednesday’s Rs. 8.01 million and Tuesday’s Rs. 63.05 million, and the heaviest outflow of the week.
Melstacorp was the largest negative contributor to the index, followed by Dialog Axiata, Hayleys, Lion Brewery and RIL Property. John Keells Holdings was the strongest positive contributor. Hiru News did not publish a contributor list, so the Daily Mirror’s names are uncorroborated rather than disputed.
The Daily Mirror noted Brent crude easing to around US$105.83 a barrel, while describing energy prices as still elevated.
