ECONOMYNEXT – The Colombo All Share Price Index rose 0.81 percent on Wednesday, recovering its losses from the previous day and reaching a fresh record high, brokers said.
“We got the approval of the IMF. All the uncertainties are clearing out. This has made the market bullish,” Dimantha Mathew, Chief Research and Strategy Officer at First Capital Holdings PLC told EconomyNext.
The International Monetary Fund’s Executive Board has approved the fourth review under its Extended Fund Facility for Sri Lanka, approving a draw down of 350 million US dollars (254 Special Drawing Rights).
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“Market returned to a sort of a bullishness that was there earlier,” Mathew said.
The ASPI closed 0.81 percent, or 145.06 points higher, at 18,141.79.
The S&P SL20, meanwhile, moved 0.36 percent, or 19.15 points up, to close at 5,362.12 after a somewhat volatile session.
Investor interest was seen in construction shares led by Access Engineering, ACL Cabels and JAT, and real estate counters such as R I L property and Prime Lands, Mathew said.
The ASPI was pushed up by C T Holdings which moved 55.25 rupees up to 596.25; Colombo Dockyard which ended 43.40 rupees higher at 113.50; Access Engineering which moved 3.20 rupees up to 46.90; R I L Property, which rose 2.90 rupees to close at 25.10, and John Kells Holdings which climbed 0.20 rupees to end at 23.00.
“Blue chip companies, banks continued to attract investor interest,” Mathew said.
Turnover rose to 7.8 billion rupees while the share volume was 248,302,961.
Regionally, in Pakistan, its KSE 100 Index crossed the 130,000 mark for the first time during intra-day trade on Wednesday.
India’s Nifty 50 ended 0.35 percent lower at 25,453.40 while BSE Sensex was 0.34 percent weaker at 83,409.69, amidst broad based selling pressure in banking, financials, and realty sectors.
“This sectoral weakness was compounded by cautious investor sentiment amid concerns over high valuations, persistent foreign institutional investor (FII) selling, and mixed global cues,” The Business Standard said.
Further away, the equity market in Japan declined for the second day over concerns after US president Donald Trump floated the idea of further increasing import levies on Japanese goods.
The Nikkei 225 index fell 0.56 percent, or 223.85 points, from Tuesday to 39,762.48.
As at 3.55 pm Sri Lankan time, spot gold was trading at 3,356.02 US dollars, up 10.62 US dollars. (Colombo/Jul2/2025)
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