Colombo stocks gloomy, fall to lowest in nearly 3 years
2008-10-09 16:14:28

Colombo stocks hit the dumps on Thursday when most share prices plummeted at unprecedented levels and the benchmark All Share Price Index (ASPI) sank to its lowest in nearly three years before recovering.

The ASPI fell to its lowest level – below 2000 – for the first time since January 2006 but regained some ground to close at 2013.10, down 30.03 points from Wednesday’s close. The Milanka fell by more than 20 points to 2231.09. The turnover was Rs 142 million.

Dialog which hit an all time low to close at Rs 6.75 – down by Rs 1 yesterday, remained flat on Thursday at Rs 7 but was the most traded stock with over 1.6 million shares transacted. CTC also traded more than 800,000 shares. “This is because stocks such as CTC and Dialog are those that see a lot of foreign exposure and foreigners may have been buying to hedge their exposure to the foreign markets they normally invest,” Thakshila Hulangamuwa, Vice President Business Development at Asha Phillips said.

Stock analysts said the market will show similar trends on Friday. .