Colombo bourse regains momentum

After a rather dreary performance last week, the Colombo market regained lost ground during the week, although activity on the Colombo Bourse remained subtle. For the final time this year the ASPI gained 10.56 points (0.39%) to close at 2,722.36 while the more liquid MPI notched up 15.08 points (0.41%) to end the week at 3711.80.

Given the seasonal factor and Christmas holidays the market started on positive sentiments during Tuesday’s trading activity, although activity was rather minimal resulting in the lowest turnover for the year of Rs. 55.74 million while a total of 1.45 million shares changed hands during the day.

On Wednesday the market witnessed a volatile trend although the level of activity improved to a greater extent with both indices closing positively. There was much interest on plantation stock Kegalle which came by way of a foreign to local crossing with one million shares changing hands at a price of Rs.44 which was a foreign to local transaction.

There was interest on petroleum giant Lanka IOC on Thursday with the stock gaining by a rupee to close at Rs.29 which heightened activity on the bourse during the latter hours of trading. The blue chip John Keells captured top slot turnover-wise with a crossing coming it’s way amounting to 58,900 shares changing hands at a price of Rs.195 .Volume wise top trades for the week came from market heavy weight Dialog Telekom (3.88 million), Lanka IOC (1.94 million), Sri Lanka Telecom (1.30 million) and Kegalle Plantations (1.11 million).

(BMS Weekly)
Turnover for the week stood at Rs.920.87 million.

Foreign investors proved to be daily heavier on the selling side, bringing the net outflow to Rs.207.76 million. They were seen divesting their stakes mostly in John Keells Holdings, Dialog, Lanka IOC, Hatton National Bank (non voting) and Commercial Bank.
With the market expected to re open for the first time after the New Year, investors could anticipate a positive outlook in trading activities, although, the shortened trading week may dampen investor sentiments. Investors should also closely watch fundamentally sound counters like Telecommunication, Diversified, Manufacturing, Banking, Finance & Insurance, Food & Beverage, Health Care and Plantation which indicate immense growth potential in the coming year.

During year 2006 BMS Research introduced an index based on our stocks in focus, and we are proud to see that our index has gained by more than 53.02% during the year. This is a good indication that if a particular investor invests in fundamentally sound ounters that there would be a guaranteed return.