The Colombo Stock Exchange closed sharply higher on Tuesday, with the All Share Price Index up 2.75 percent, or 592.02 points, at 22,123.39 — its largest single-session gain of the current rally and a sixth consecutive advance.
The more liquid S&P SL20 rose further still, up 3.66 percent, or 224.97 points, to 6,368.12, EconomyNext reported after the close.
Turnover was Rs. 7.96 billion, more than double the Rs. 3.33 billion recorded when the index closed at 21,531.37 on Monday. The banking sector again led, contributing Rs. 2.03 billion.
What brokers attribute it to
Raynal Wickremeratne, Head of Research and Strategy at NDB Securities, pointed to oil and to global sentiment.
“One of the things in the past that were dragging the market down was oil prices and also the negative sentiment globally. I think now some of that sentiment has recovered, you’re seeing oil also coming down, and effectively when you look at Sri Lanka, oil is one of the biggest factors here more than anything else,” he said.
He added that investors were also hopeful that shifts in power in the US House and Senate could lead to adjustments in US trade tariffs, which would relieve emerging markets carrying heavy tariff burdens.
Movers
| Gainers | Change | Close |
|---|---|---|
| Vallibel One | +6.14% | Rs. 95.10 |
| Dialog Axiata | +4.88% | Rs. 49.40 |
| Commercial Bank of Ceylon | +4.28% | Rs. 225.25 |
| Hayleys | +4.02% | Rs. 239.25 |
| Hatton National Bank | +3.81% | Rs. 415.00 |
Softlogic Life Insurance (−4.98% at Rs. 78.30), Softlogic Capital (−4.17% at Rs. 11.50), Ambeon Holdings (−3.28% at Rs. 35.40), LOLC Finance (−1.96% at Rs. 5.00) and Ceylon Cold Stores (−1.38% at Rs. 125.00) were the top drags.
Crossings carried the volume
Negotiated deals accounted for a large share of the day. Dialog Axiata led with Rs. 800 million in crossings and generated a combined Rs. 1.4 billion of total turnover once more than Rs. 600 million of open-market trading is counted — roughly one rupee in six of the day’s entire turnover from a single counter.
Commercial Bank of Ceylon followed with Rs. 309 million, then John Keells Holdings (Rs. 93.7 million), Swisstek (Rs. 56.1 million), Commercial Credit and Finance (Rs. 52 million), CAL Closed End Fund (Rs. 50 million) and Seylan Bank (Rs. 50 million and Rs. 39.2 million in two deals). DFCC Bank, D Products, Nations Trust Bank, Ceylon Cold Stores, CIC Holdings, Hemas Holdings, Sunshine Holdings, Chevron Lubricants Lanka and Access Engineering each recorded crossings between Rs. 21 million and Rs. 41.2 million.
Which session this is
This is Tuesday’s close, confirmed by a filing timestamped 4.00 p.m. Colombo — after the 2.30 p.m. market close — and consistent with Monday’s published figures: 21,531.37 plus 592.02 gives 22,123.39, and the S&P SL20’s 6,143.15 plus 224.97 gives 6,368.12.
The distinction matters because this desk has found that the Daily Mirror’s business-news surface files the previous session’s wrap late the following morning. A filing carried there on Tuesday at 12.01 p.m. reproduced Monday’s figures, and is recorded against Monday’s report rather than this one.
Update: a second filing supplies the breadth and the foreign flow
A Daily Mirror filing timestamped 6.53 p.m. Colombo, bylined to Almas Equities Research, confirms the session’s headline figures and adds the three things missing above. It independently reports the same index levels — ASPI 22,123.39 and S&P SL20 6,368.12 — and the same Rs. 7.96 billion turnover.
Foreign investors were net sellers. The filing records a net outflow of approximately Rs. 1.20 billion for the session, and calls it “a key point to monitor” against the rally’s other indicators. That is a material qualification: the day’s gains were driven by domestic buying while foreign money left.
Breadth was strongly positive — 206 gainers against 45 decliners, an advance-decline ratio of 4.58. Volume was 253.92 million shares.
On the crossings, the filing puts negotiated deals at around 22 percent of total equity turnover, with Dialog Axiata’s block transactions at Rs. 815.48 million (this desk reported Rs. 800 million from the earlier filing) and Dialog’s total counter turnover at Rs. 1.42 billion — the highest of any single counter. Commercial Bank followed at Rs. 309.57 million, with John Keells Holdings and Swisstek also recording notable blocks.
Two further details: the ASPI approached 22,200 during afternoon trading before mild profit-taking emerged near the close, and Carson Cumberbatch was the largest negative contributor to the index. Commercial Bank was the strongest positive contributor, followed by Dialog Axiata, Hatton National Bank, Hayleys and Vallibel One — the same order of magnitude as the gainers table above.
The filing notes that turnover was more than double the year-to-date daily average, and that the move firmly above 22,000 makes that level an important near-term support area.
Still not reported
Neither filing gives market capitalisation, a sector-by-sector breakdown beyond banking’s Rs. 2.03 billion, or the identity of the parties to the Dialog Axiata crossing — it remains unstated whether the Rs. 815.48 million represents one institutional transfer or several. Neither explains the divergence between strong domestic breadth and a Rs. 1.20 billion foreign outflow.
Note also that the Daily Mirror’s filing is a brokerage research note rather than newsroom reporting, so the two sources are independent as to hostname but not necessarily as to data: both ultimately draw on the exchange’s own end-of-session figures.
