Colombo bourse slumps despite early gains at mid-day Wednesday

As predicted, the Colombo bourse didn’t sustain its early gains on Wednesday with both indices losing ground by midday, analysts said. According to them the index has been down below 7,000 after nearly seven months. The All Share lost 0.24 per cent to stand at 6,981.10 by 12 noon while S&P SL 20 index saw a drop of 0.20 per cent to read 3,969.05 by this time. The highlight of today’s trades was some 64.01 million shares of ODEL crossing at Rs. 22 contributing to Rs 1.6 billion turnover. The buyer wasn't clear. As per an announcement made by ODEL yesterday, it has acquired Softlogic Brand (Pvt) Ltd, which possesses the largest international branded apparel and fashion accessory portfolio in the country, from Softlogic Holdings’ subsidiaries, Softlogic Retail (Pvt) Limited and Dai-Nishi Securities (Pvt) Limited, for Rs. 600 million. Consequently, Odel will settle a sum of Rs 1.1 billion due to Soflogic Retail (Pvt) Ltd by Softlogic Brands on or before 31st March.