Profit taking on many blue-chips during late trading caused
the indices to lose marginally. The Relative Strength Index was at an overbought
situation as at yesterday. However yields on treasury bills fell further in
today’s auction which will help to improve the condition of the stock market.
Private deals on Asiri Hospitals and related parties transacted
as well whilst a Dialog saw selling pressure towards the close of trading.
ASI dropped 6.83 points (0.12%) to close at 5,745.10 and the
S & P SL20 index lost 3.10 points (0.10%) to close at 2,120.87. The
turnover was Rs. 497.2Mn
Top contributors to turnover were Dialog Axiata with Rs.
111.0Mn, Asiri Hospitals Holdings with Rs. 52.7Mn and Ceylon Theatres with Rs.
34.3Mn. Most active counters for the day were LOLC, Dialog Axiata and Laufgs Gas
non-voting.
Notable gainers for the day were Odel up by 7.8% to close at
Rs. 22.00, Laufgs Gas up by 3.4% to close at Rs. 27.80 and Distilleries up by
2.9% to close at Rs. 170.00. Notable losers for the day were Touchwood
Investments down by 3.2% to close at Rs. 9.00, HVA Foods down by 2.2% to close
at Rs. 13.30 and Nation Lanka finance down by 1.9% to close at Rs. 10.40.
Cash Map for today was 23.3% which was adversely impacted by
the sell down in Dialog Axiata. Foreign participation was 31% of the market
turnover whilst net foreign selling was Rs. 31Mn.
