Quote for the day

“Commitment, perseverance, and discipline are the characteristics that move people beyond desire to action, that differentiate mediocrity from greatness, and that separate greatness from super stardom.” - Doug Hirschhorn,

LSL Market Review 20th Mar 2013

Investors continued to favor Financial Services counters, including leading banks and small cap insurer, Janashakthi and Blue-chip John Keells Holdings in today’s trading session and respective sectors represented 86% of the total market turnover and 57% of the aggregate trading volume. Janashakthi Insurance turned out to be the heavily traded stock amid the most awaited dividend announcement of LKR 1.00 per share with 8% dividend yield and 45% dividend payout. John Keells Holdings and Seylan Bank non-voting were the next best traded stocks and reached 52 week high of LKR 249.70 and LKR 37.50 during the day while recording several off-the floor deals at LKR 250.00 and LKR 36.30 per share respectively.

All Share Index gained 11.96 index points (+0.21%) to close at 5,734.82 and S&P SL 20 Index advanced by 15.77 points (+0.48%) to close at 3,299.56. Market turnover was LKR 539.7mn.
Top contributors to the turnover were John Keells Holdings (LKR 211.9mn), Seylan Bank non-voting (LKR 81.4mn) and National Development Bank (LKR 23.1mn).
Among the top gainers were Kotagala Plantations – rights (up by LKR 2.00, +40%), SMB Leasing (up by LKR 0.10, +33%). On the other hand, Asiri Surgical Hospitals traded excluding dividend today and lost LKR 1.60 (+14%) to close at LKR 9.80.
Foreigners were net buyers (LKR 210mn) for the tenth consecutive day and contributed 24% of the market activity. Cash map for the day was 59.5%.

Quote for the day

"The key to trading success is emotional discipline. If intelligence were the key, there would be a lot more people making money trading." - Victor Sperandeo

LSL Market Review – 19th Mar 2013

A late rally in blue-chips saw indices driven higher. Nestle reached an all-time high price of Rs. 1,800.00 whilst John Keells Holdings is trading at a higher adjusted price than its pre-split all-time high price. Meanwhile, National Development Bank continued to gain ground today whilst DFCC also gained good ground on thin volumes. John Keells Holdings continued to dominate turnover followed by banking counters.

ASI gained 14.85 points (0.26%) to close at 5,722.86 and the S&P SL20 index gained 13.58 points (0.42%) to close at 3,283.79. Turnover was Rs. 933.7Mn.

Top contributors to turnover were John Keells Holdings with Rs. 444.2Mn, PCH Holdings with Rs. 94.5Mn and Commercial Bank with Rs. 81.0Mn. Most active counters for the day were Nations Trust Bank, Commercial Bank and Hatton National Bank non-voting.

Amongst the top gainers Kotagala Plantations – Rights, Durdans Hospitals non-voting and Nestle Lanka reached 52 week high price levels. Asiri Surgical Hospitals traded heavily and reached 52 Week High as the counter’s XD date falls tomorrow.

Cash map for today was 56.67%. Foreign participation was 37.01% of total market turnover whilst net foreign buying was Rs. 221.8Mn.

Quote for the day

"Behind every adversity is an opportunity. If you lament over the adversity, you will miss the opportunity." – Ajaero Tony Martins

LSL Market Review 18th Mar 2013

Indices gained helped by Hatton National Bank, Commercial Bank, Carson Cumberbatch and Bukit Darah. Ceylon Tobacco Company saw its shares sliding today whilst John Keells Holdings and National Development Bank saw their share prices reaching 52-week highs. Turnover was a paltry site as institutions were having an off-day.

ASI gained 3.48 points (0.06%) to close at 5,708.01 and the S&P SL20 index gained 7.77 points (0.24%) to close at 3,270.21. Turnover was Rs. 309.4Mn.

Top contributors to turnover were John Keells Holdings with Rs. 63.8Mn, Hatton National Bank with Rs. 49.7Mn and Hemas Holdings with Rs. 18.5Mn. Most active counters for the day were Panasian Power, Commercial Bank and Hatton National Bank non-voting.

Notable gainers for the day were Ascot Holdings up by 22.3% to close at Rs. 168.70, Panasian Power up by 7.7% to close at Rs. 2.80 and Amana Takaful up by 6.7% to close at Rs. 1.60. Notable losers for the day were Central Investments & Finance down by 3.6% to close at Rs. 2.70, PC house down by 3.2% to close at Rs. 3.00 and DFCC down by 2.3% to close at Rs. 120.10.

Cash map for today was 46.11%. Foreign participation was 26.96% of total market turnover whilst net foreign selling was Rs. 5.92Mn.

Quote for the day

"I believe the very best money is to be made at the market turns. Everyone says you get killed trying to pick tops and bottoms and you make all the money by catching the trends in the middle. Well, for twelve years, I have often been missing the meat in the middle, but I have caught a lot of bottoms and tops. If you are a trend follower trying to catch the profits in the middle of a move, you have to use very wide stops. I'm not comfortable doing that. Also, markets trend only about 15% of the time; the rest of the time they move sideways." - Paul Tudor Jones