The Colombo Stock Exchange closed marginally lower on Friday in a session marked less by the direction of prices than by how little stock changed hands.
The All Share Price Index fell 29.54 points, or 0.14%, to 21,037.35, while the more liquid S&P SL20 moved the other way, adding 5.70 points, or 0.10%, to 5,948.48, EconomyNext reported.
Turnover is the story
Market turnover came in at Rs. 814.88 million — well below the Rs. 1.31 billion recorded a day earlier.
“More than being down, the turnover is extremely low at around 800 million rupees,” said Raynal Wickremeratne, Head of Research and Strategy at NDB Securities.
Wickremeratne attributed the drift to small retail corrections following Sri Lanka’s recent sovereign credit rating upgrade, while broader macroeconomic concerns continue to keep trading slow.
“A rating uptick was on the cards and expected, so while it gave retail a bit of a kick, there hasn’t been anything major beyond that,” he said. Crossings were recorded in NDB Bank during the session.
Sector and stock moves
The banking sector led turnover with Rs. 240.92 million, followed by diversified financials at Rs. 179.77 million.
Positive contributors to the index were SMB Finance (up 10.00% at Rs. 1.10), Ambeon Holdings (up 2.04% at Rs. 35.00) and Sampath Bank (up 0.53% at Rs. 141.00). LOLC Finance closed flat at Rs. 5.20.
On the other side, Lion Brewery (Ceylon) fell 2.21% to Rs. 1,751.25, Ceylon Cold Stores lost 1.44% to Rs. 119.75, Dialog Axiata slipped 0.64% to Rs. 46.40 and Commercial Bank of Ceylon eased 0.24% to Rs. 204.00.
Friday’s close extends a run of narrow moves that has held the index in a band either side of 21,000 through the second half of September, after it slipped below that level earlier in the month.
Not reported
The report does not give foreign buying or selling figures for the session, the number of advancing and declining counters, or the week’s aggregate turnover.
