The Colombo Stock Exchange closed strongly higher on Friday with the All Share Price Index gaining 1.30 percent, or 284.12 points, to close at 22,128.66 as markets decisively shrugged off the political uncertainty of the no-confidence motion against Energy Minister Jayakody being debated the same day.
The S&P SL20 index rose 1.26 percent, or 76.55 points, to 6,152.73. Dialog Axiata led gains with a 4.11 percent rise to Rs. 33.00, followed by JKH at 3.08 percent and NDB at 3.74 percent — a notable recovery for NDB despite its ongoing fraud probe. The rebound follows Thursday’s decline when the CSE closed down 0.33 percent amid broader global uncertainty.
The rupee was quoted flat at 315.55/65 to the US dollar in the spot market, a marginal improvement from Thursday’s weakening trend. Telegraphic transfer rates stood at 312.05 buying and 319.05 selling for the dollar.
Bond yields opened broadly steady, with a benchmark 15.06.2029 maturity quoted at 9.90/10.00 percent and a 01.07.2030 maturity at 10.10/20 percent, down slightly from 10.15/20.
Separately, Sri Lanka sold an additional Rs. 5 billion in Treasury bills after last week’s auction, bringing the total to Rs. 35 billion. The three-month bill was placed at 7.94 percent, the six-month at 8.14 percent, and the twelve-month at 8.45 percent.
Total turnover reached Rs. 5.016 billion, with major crossings including 3 million JKH shares and 700,000 Chevron shares. Capital goods (Rs. 1.026 billion) and diversified financials (Rs. 1.054 billion) dominated trading.
The market’s strong close on NCM day suggests investors are not pricing in any threat to the NPP government, consistent with the ruling party’s comfortable parliamentary majority. The ADB’s warning of up to 0.8 percent GDP growth loss from the US-Iran conflict did not dampen sentiment.
