The Colombo Stock Exchange posted its strongest session in weeks on Wednesday, with the All Share Price Index climbing 421.48 points, or 2.09%, to close at 20,541.12.

The S&P SL20 rose 112.52 points, or 1.97%, to 5,835.09. Both figures are reported identically by the Daily Mirror and EconomyNext.

It is the ASPI’s highest close since 6 October, when the index ended at 20,650.23. Every session in between closed lower, including a dip below 20,000 in mid-October.

Breadth, not a narrow push

The defining feature of the session was its breadth. The Daily Mirror reports 217 gainers against 23 decliners — an advance-decline ratio of 9.43.

That is close to a mirror image of 29 September, when breadth collapsed to 31 gainers against 163 decliners. A rally carried by this many counters is harder to attribute to a handful of large caps.

Turnover strengthened to Rs 3.87 billion on 119.46 million shares, well above Tuesday’s Rs 1.52 billion. The index held positive for most of the session and approached 20,600 before late profit-taking trimmed the gains.

Foreign investors nonetheless remained net sellers, with an outflow of about Rs 136.48 million — a smaller outflow than Tuesday’s Rs 242.48 million, but an outflow all the same.

Where the money moved

The two newsrooms describe turnover differently. The Daily Mirror puts Singer Sri Lanka at the top on roughly Rs 428.35 million, followed by Sampath Bank and Tokyo Cement. EconomyNext instead reports the S&P/CSE Banks Industry Group Index leading on Rs 965.03 million, and cites Raynal Wickremeratne, Head of Research and Strategy at NDB Securities, on an active on-market transaction of Rs 750 million in Hatton National Bank.

Both agree crossings were led by Lanka IOC at about Rs 219 million. EconomyNext adds Tokyo Cement (Rs 87 million) and People’s Leasing (Rs 34 million); the Daily Mirror lists Tokyo Cement and Dipped Products, and puts crossings at around 11% of equity turnover.

A divergence worth noting

The two accounts name different losers. EconomyNext lists Colombo Fort Land and Building (down 3.86% at Rs 52.30), Sarvodaya Development Finance (down 3.75%) and Watawala Plantations (down 0.67%). The Daily Mirror says Carson Cumberbatch recorded the largest negative contribution.

These are not necessarily in conflict: a contribution to the index is a function of market capitalisation as well as price move, so a large-cap falling slightly can outweigh a small-cap falling sharply. The same applies on the upside, where EconomyNext’s list of movers includes Laugfs Gas (up 10.72%) and LOLC Finance (up 9.09%), while the Daily Mirror’s contributor list ends with CIC Holdings. Both place Commercial Bank of Ceylon first, followed by Dialog Axiata and Hatton National Bank.

Neither outlet states which measure it is using, so the lists are reported here as each had them.

Also disclosed

Kahawatte Plantations PLC announced the appointment of Anura Weerakoon as chief executive officer with effect from 1 December 2026, succeeding Binesh Neomal Pananwala, who resigned as CEO and director effective 30 November.