ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka stocks closed 2.9 percent weaker on Wednesday due to a possible correction, with some profit taking leading to selling pressure, brokers said.
“The market was down partly because of a correction, and partly due to selling and profit taking,” Shadini Silva, Co-Head of Research at Softlogic Stockbrokers told EconomyNext.
The ASPI closed down 2.95 percent, or 500.39 points, at 16,456.10; while the more liquid S&P SL20 Index closed down 3.30 percent, or 167.18 points, at 4,898.04.
“It’s also results quarter for most corporate entities, and regardless of the results being good or bad, sell orders are getting activated.”
Teejay Lanka closed 2.1 percent weaker at 54.80, Singer (Sri Lanka) ended down 5.4 percent to 30.10 and Ceylon Cold stores down 1.8 percent to 90.90.
Top negative contributors to the ASPI were HNB (ended 3.1 percent weaker at 333.50), Commercial Bank (fell 3.7 percent at 142.25), Melstacrop (closed down 4.2 percent at 124.50), Sampath Bank (fell 3.2 to 115.00) and NDB (down 5.2 percent at 119.25).
There was investor interest in the capital goods ( 1.2 billion rupees), insurance (1.3 billion rupees), food beverages and tobacco (1.03 billion rupees) industries in the session.
Ceylinco Holdings ended 7.8 percent stronger at 3,342.25 and Lion Brewery was up 0.6 percent at 1,241.75.
There was interest in insurance and vehicle related stocks following the lift of the import ban on vehicles.
“Stocks with exposure to vehicle and insurance were seeing some interest due to the import ban being lifted,” Silva said.
Disel & Motor Engineering Plc closed up 1.4 percent to 1,066.75.
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Most active volumes were seen in Brown Investments at 62,290,004 (turnover 541,310,996.50 rupees), John Keells Holdings at 23,174,251 (turnover 512,149,973.80 rupees), LVL Energy fund at 12,222,045 (turnover 79,276,185.80 rupees) and Industrial Asphalts at 11,919,841 (turnover 4,858,405.40 rupees).
Turnover was 6.3 billion rupees, while the share volume rose 98 percent to 241,275,530.
Continuing the downward trend, a net foreign outflow of 343 million rupees for the day was recorded.(Colombo/Feb05/2025)
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