Positive momentum was seen today with retailers increasing their presence. Gains on Ceylon Tobacco Company helped to bolster the indices whilst Hatton National Bank and John Keells Holdings contributed well to today’s turnover. People’s Leasing & Finance attracted retail interest as a merger with its subsidiary is round the corner.
ASI gained 46.66 points (0.82%) to close at 5,730.45 and the S&P SL20 index gained 13.37 points (0.43%) to close at 3,104.25. Turnover was Rs. 518.6Mn.
Top contributors to turnover were Hatton National Bank with Rs. 132.3Mn, John Keells Holdings with Rs. 94.9Mn and Nation Lanka Finance with Rs. 22.3Mn. Most active counters for the day were Nation Lanka Finance, Swarnamahal Financial Services and Central Investments & Finance.
Notable gainers for the day were Environmental Resource Holdings warrant-6 up by19.1% to close at Rs. 5.00, Environmental Resource Holdings warrant-3 up by 17.5% to close at Rs. 4.70 and NDB Capital Holdings up by 11.6% to close at Rs. 549.80. Notable losers for the day were Capital Alliance Finance down by 23.8% to close at Rs. 20.20, Nation Lanka Finance down by 8.3% to close at Rs. 2.20 and Tess Agro down by 3.9% to close at Rs. 2.50.
Cash map was 50.48% which is lower than yesterday’s. Foreign participation was 20% of total market turnover whilst net foreign outflow was Rs. 105Mn.