ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka stocks closed 1.4 percent stronger on Thursday, brokers said.
“Media reports on current taxes remaining gave a bit of confidence to the market,” Ranjan Ranatunga, Assistant Vice President – Research at First Capital told EconomyNext.
The ASPI closed up 1.42 percent, or 232.92 points, at 16,578.22; while the more liquid S&P SL20 Index closed up 1.11 percent, or 52.14 points, at 4,944.60.
“A bit of buying activity was seen,” Ranatunga said.
Selling interest during early morning trade brought the indices down, but this was short lived. It was followed by gradual buying interest coming into the market, led by banks.
NDB closed up 2.4 percent at 119.75, Seylan Bank rose 1.3 percent to 78.00, and Pan Asia Bank closed 3.0 percent weaker at 37.30.
Continuing the downward trend, a net foreign outflow of 892 million rupees for the day was recorded. This was the third lowest in 2025.
Foreign selling was recorded in Ambeon Holdings (807 million rupees), John Keells Holdings (32.9 million rupees), Hayleys (26.8 million rupees), Sampath Bank (19.8 million rupees), Sierra Cables ( 18.9 million rupees) and Melstacrop (12.7 million rupees).
Turnover was 3.5 billion rupees, while the share volume rose 14 percent to 111,258,958.
“Improvement on turnover was seen. Added interest in Ceylinco stocks pushed the market.”
Top contributors to the ASPI were Ceylinco Holdings (ended 9.3 percent stronger at 3,390.00), Sampath Bank (grew 2.1 percent to 119.50), Central Finance Company (up 6.0 percent at 212.00), LOLC Holdings (closed up 2.5 percent at 676.50) and Commercial Bank (rose 1.2 percent at 146.00).
“Selected interest in the finance sector can be seen.”
Most of the turnover came from the consumer durables and apparel industry (943 million rupees), capital goods (602 million rupees) and banks (530 million rupees) sectors during the session.
Hayleys Fiber ended 0.9 percent stronger at 53.50, Access Engineering rose 1.5 to 40.10 and Brown & company was up 2.1 percent at 183.75.
Most active volumes were seen in Ambeon Holdings at 31,786,804 (turnover 910,814,571.50 rupees), John Keells Holdings at 9,688,736 (turnover 217,262,425.70 rupees), Sierra Cables at 7,051,667 (turnover 116,741,186.10 rupees) and Print Care at 5,823,998 (turnover 364,964,092.20 rupees). (Colombo/Feb13/2025)
Continue Reading
