ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka stocks rallied past the Colombo All Share Price Index’s psychological 16,000 mark on Wednesday after the exchange opened for regular trading following a long holiday week, brokers said.
The ASPI rose 1.63 percent, or 259.93 points to close up at 16,176.10. The index surpassed the 16,000 mark for the first time after April 2.
Diversified financials pushed the S&P SL20 to close 1.95 percent higher, or 90.71 points up at 4,748.51.
Turnover steeply rose to 3.3 billion rupees from 1.5 billion rupees in the previous session, while share volumes climbed to 123,474,797 from 97,217,562.
Uncertainty surrounding the IMF board level agreement, US Sri Lanka tariff talks and renewing the GSP+ scheme were dampening investor interest in previous sessions.
However, the US and China’s agreement on a 90-day tariff pause, and some interim and annual reports reflecting positive earnings has driven the market up.
Following the release of its interim financial statement, DFCC Bank contributed to the fall of the ASPI on Wednesday.
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Dialog Finance was trading flat at 41.70 rupees after the company announced legal action has been taken on a 29.9 million rupee ‘external financial fraud.’
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In today’s session, the All Share Price index was pushed up mainly by HNB which rose 8.00 rupees to close at 303.25 rupees, Central Finance Company ended 11.75 rupees higher at 209.25 rupees, Commercial Bank traded 2.75 rupees stronger at 140.00 rupees, Sampath Bank was 1.50 rupees up at 111.00 and Aitken Spence which recovered from the last session’s losses to end 5.00 rupees higher at 130.25 rupees.
Sri Lanka’s coconut and coconut related export shares fell amidst a global shortage.
Hayleys Fibre, a coconut fibre exporter was trading flat at 48.20 rupees, while coconut shell based activated carbon manifacturer, Haycarb ended 0.30 rupees lower at 81.50 rupees.
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In Asia, Pakistan received the second tranche of special drawing rights, 1,023 million US dollars, from the IMF boosting the exchange’s KSE All share index to trade 0.05 percent higher at 73,347.32 in evening trade.
However, Pakistan’s KSE 100 index was trading marginally down at 0.1 percent.
India’s Nifty grew 0.36 percent to close up at 24,666.90 while BSE Sensex was 0.22 percent higher at 81,330.56 on Wednesday.
The Indian government said it has planned to review China-backed investment in India after China’s support to Pakistan during the recent military conflict, NDTV Profit said.
The London Stock Exchange’s FTSE 100 index was trading at 8,601.44, down 0.017 percent in the session. Yahoo Finance said the LSE tumbled after China reportedly criticised the trade deal between the United Kingdom and United States saying it could “squeeze products” from China out of the British supply chain.
“Co-operation between states should not be conducted against or to the detriment of the interests of third parties,” China’s foreign ministry said.
China’s SSE Composite index rose 0.86 percent to 3,403.95 in the session.
As at 4.50 pm Sri Lankan time on Wednesday, spot gold was trading at 3,245.25 US dollars, down 12.22 US dollars.
Reuters said gold prices have slid after “easing US-China trade tensions soothed fear of potential global recession.” (Colombo/May14/2025)
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