LSL - Market Review – 17th Dec 2012

Market opened on a positive today on very low activity. Today’s turnover was dominated by private deals which contributed almost 62%. Indices closed in negative territory as losses on many blue-chips didn’t help the cause. Retail participation was subdued ahead of the seasonal spending period.

ASI dropped 19.21 points (0.35%) to close at 5,503.51, MPI lost 33.30 points (0.66%) to close at 5,011.90 and the S&P SL20 index declined 13.35 points (0.44%) to close at 3,009.44. Turnover for today was Rs. 532.9Mn.

Top contributors to turnover were Environmental Resource Investments with Rs. 203.1Mn, Chevron Lubricants with Rs. 109.2Mn and Commercial Bank with Rs. 77.8Mn. Most active counters for the day were Free Lanka Capital Holdings, CIC Holdings and Chevron Lubricants.

Notable gainers for the day were Namunukula Plantations up by 12.2% to close at Rs. 79.80, Blue Diamonds non-voting up by 5.9% to close at Rs. 1.80 and Seylan Bank up by 2.5% to close at Rs. 57.00. Notable losers for the day were Softlogic Finance down by 6.6% to close at Rs. 24.00, Hemas Holdings down by 3.7% to close at Rs. 26.00 and E-Channeling down by 3.5% to close at Rs. 5.50.

Cash map for today (excl crossings) was 53%. Foreign participation was 65% of total market turnover whilst net foreign buying was Rs. 102Mn.