Quote for the day

"The turn of the cycle has created some tough choices. Warren Buffett has said, ‘You don't know who is swimming naked until the tide goes out.’ "  -  David Einhorn

LSL Market Review 15th May 2013

Market ended with mixed results today. Most of the banking sector counters excluding Hatton National Bank and Seylan Bank witnessed drop in prices such as Commercial Bank by LKR 1.10, Sampath Bank by LKR 2.00, and National Development Bank by LKR 4.10. Investor interest were gathered around Motor sector stocks such as motor sector counters such as Colonial Motors (up by LKR 9.90), United Motors (up by LKR 5.40) and Diesel & Motor Engineering (up by LKR 4.60).

ASI advanced by 14.53 index points to close at 6,221.12 while S&P SL 20 Index dropped by 2.16 points to close at 3,498.34.

Total market turnover was LKR 1.7bn. Top contributors to the turnover were John Keells Holdings by LKR 443.4mn, National Development Bank by LKR 379.4mn and United Motors by LKR 123.8mn. In terms of sectors Bank Finance Insurance, Diversified Holdings and Motors sectors emerged as notable contributors to the daily turnover. Several crossings were made by top three contributors to the turnover aw well by Cargills Ceylon and Sampath Bank. Aggregated value of the crossings accounted for 54% of the market turnover.

Further, apart from the motor sector stocks Regnis Lanka, PC House and Piramal Glass were among the mostly traded stocks during the day. Foreign participation accounted for 39% of the total market activity. At the end of the day foreign investors were net buyers with a net foreign inflow of LKR 859.9mn. Cash map closed at 54.7%.