The All Share Price Index closed down 75.64 points, or 0.38%, at 19,983.78 on Tuesday, a second consecutive losing session that took the index back below the 20,000 line, the Daily Mirror reported and EconomyNext confirmed with identical figures.
Turnover was Rs. 794.96 million on 25.88 million shares.
The 20,000 line has changed hands twice in three sessions
The ASPI reclaimed 20,000 on Friday 16 October and held 59.42 points above it after Monday’s 125.63-point fall. Tuesday’s close is 16.22 points below the line — recovered on Friday, lost on Tuesday.
Because EconomyNext filed twice, the shape of the session is visible. At midday the ASPI was down 93.43 points, or 0.47%, at 19,965.99. It closed at 19,983.78.
The index therefore recovered 17.79 points after midday — roughly a fifth of the intraday fall — but not the 34.01 points it needed to regain 20,000. That is the “selective buying support” of the Daily Mirror’s headline: real, and insufficient.
Turnover stopped falling
Rs. 794.96m ends a three-session slide, rising 16.8% from Monday:
| Session | Turnover |
|---|---|
| Thursday 15 October | Rs. 1.5bn |
| Friday 16 October | Rs. 1.14bn |
| Monday 19 October | Rs. 680.32m |
| Tuesday 20 October | Rs. 794.96m |
Banks led the sector table with roughly Rs. 250.97 million, and Sampath Bank was the highest individual counter at Rs. 154.77 million.
Crossings were about 30% of turnover — Sampath Bank Rs. 138.00m, Melstacorp Rs. 57.55m and Access Engineering Rs. 44.86m. Those three sum to Rs. 240.41m, or 30.2%, which matches the Daily Mirror’s figure exactly. EconomyNext’s list of the day’s largest trades carries the same three plus a CAL Three Year Closed End Fund trade at Rs. 53.52m, which the Daily Mirror’s crossings list omits.
Breadth stayed weak: 57 gainers against 149 decliners, an advance-decline ratio of 0.38. Foreign investors were net sellers of about Rs. 59.79 million.
The two outlets rank the losers by different measures
The Daily Mirror lists the largest negative contributors to the index — LOLC Holdings, then Dialog Axiata, Hatton National Bank, LAMB.N and Overseas Realty. EconomyNext lists the largest percentage falls: Kotmale Holdings down 4.50% at Rs. 1,146.00, Access Engineering down 2.46% at Rs. 75.30 and LOLC Holdings down 2.27% at Rs. 398.75.
These are not in conflict. A heavily weighted stock moves the index on a small percentage change; Kotmale’s 4.50% fall is the day’s steepest but barely registers in contribution terms. Only LOLC appears on both lists.
On the other side the Daily Mirror names SMB Finance as the strongest positive contributor, followed by C T Holdings, Namunukula Plantations, ASPH.N and John Keells Holdings. EconomyNext’s percentage gainers were Industrial Asphalts (Ceylon) up 20.00% at Rs. 0.60, C T Holdings up 3.13% at Rs. 536.00 and Namunukula Plantations up 2.95% at Rs. 62.80. The two lists agree on C T Holdings and Namunukula Plantations.
Access Engineering traded in both the crossings table and the decliners table on the first full session after this desk reported that the Ports Authority had scrapped the China Merchants logistics venture in which Access held 15%. Neither filing links the share price to that decision. The proximity is recorded here; the connection is not.
The S&P SL20 fails to reconcile for a second session
The two outlets give different closes for the same index on the same day. The Daily Mirror has the S&P SL20 down 19.24 points, or 0.34%, at 5,681.51. EconomyNext has it down 13.98 points, or 0.25%, at 5,686.77 — a gap of 5.26 points.
Both are internally consistent, and both imply the same starting point. 5,681.51 + 19.24 = 5,700.75; 5,686.77 + 13.98 = 5,700.75. EconomyNext’s midday figure, 5,680.16 down 20.59, implies 5,700.75 as well.
But EconomyNext’s own Monday filing closed the S&P SL20 at 5,709.47, a figure this desk recorded at the time. The implied base is 8.72 points below it.
The ASPI carries no such problem. Every one of Tuesday’s three readings — midday, and both closing filings — implies a Monday close of exactly 20,059.42, which is what EconomyNext reported on Monday.
This is the second session running in which the discrepancy appears, and it has grown. Monday’s filings implied a Friday S&P SL20 base 6.93 points below the published Friday close; Tuesday’s imply a Monday base 8.72 points below the published Monday close. In both cases the ASPI reconciled to the point and the fault was confined to the SL20 alone.
Not reported: nothing in any of the three filings explains the 8.72-point gap in the S&P SL20’s base, or why the two outlets publish closes 5.26 points apart for the same index on the same day. The Daily Mirror’s 5,681.51 sits only 1.35 points above EconomyNext’s midday reading, which would be consistent with an intraday figure carried as a close, but neither outlet says so and this desk cannot confirm it. EconomyNext gives no breadth figures and no foreign flows; neither outlet gives a reason for Kotmale Holdings’ 4.50% fall, and neither expands the ticker LAMB.N. At the time of writing no other verified newsroom had filed on Tuesday’s close.
