The Colombo Stock Exchange opened the week lower on Monday, with the All Share Price Index closing below 21,000 and turnover falling to its lowest daily level of the year.
Market turnover was Rs. 595.97 million, on roughly 32 million shares traded — a figure both Daily Mirror and EconomyNext report identically, and well below the year-to-date daily average.
A thin, one-sided session
Market breadth was firmly negative, with 55 gainers against 143 decliners, an advance-decline ratio of 0.38. Foreign investors were marginal net buyers, with an inflow of Rs. 7.89 million.
Diversified Financials led sector turnover at Rs. 128.71 million. John Keells Holdings recorded the highest individual counter turnover at Rs. 74.69 million, and crossings accounted for around 15% of the day’s total, led by JKH and Citizens Development Business Finance.
Carson Cumberbatch was the largest negative contributor to the index on both accounts, alongside Dialog Axiata and SMB Finance. Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka was the strongest positive contributor.
EconomyNext quoted Raynal Wickremeratne, Head of Research and Strategy at NDB Securities, attributing the weakness to external conditions. “Markets were down today; I think it is still very much the global disruptions that are really hurting sentiment,” he said. “Turnover was under 600 million rupees today, which is quite low, though there were crossings in counters such as John Keells and CDB.”
The two closing prints do not match
The outlets agree on turnover, sector activity and contributors, but publish different closing index levels:
| ASPI close | Change | S&P SL20 close | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily Mirror | 20,943.79 | −93.56 (−0.44%) | 5,920.72 |
| EconomyNext | 20,955.56 | −81.79 (−0.39%) | 5,923.44 |
Both are internally consistent and, notably, imply exactly the same previous close — 21,037.35 on the ASPI and 5,940.73 on the S&P SL20. The disagreement is confined to Monday’s closing print, a gap of 11.77 points on the ASPI. The most likely explanation is that one set of figures is provisional and the other final; neither outlet flags a revision. Both agree the ASPI finished below 21,000.
Daily Mirror’s report is credited to Almas Equities Research.
In separate corporate news, ACL Cables announced an interim dividend of 60 cents per share for the financial year ended 31 March 2026, totalling Rs. 431.23 million, with an ex-dividend date of 7 October.
