Colombo equities up on fresh hopes at the start of a new month

  The Colombo bourse on Wednesday managed to recover to positive ground after six consecutive sessions of losses with analysts saying that the drop in T-Bill Yields had much to do with both indices gaining over 1 per cent after several months. The benchmark All Share Price index advanced 1.4 per cent to close at 6,916.08 while S&P SL 20 index gained 1.25 per cent to end at 3,900.67. Both the indices gained over 1 per cent for the first time this year. Last month foreign investors bought Rs. 1.4 billion net worth of equities with a foreign participation of 27 per cent. Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) data showed that market PE declined to 13.1x in March compared to 14.0x recorded in February. In March the core index declined by 480.95 points or 6.6 per cent and the 20-script S&P SL index declined by 263.45 points (6.4 per cent). Today local institutional and high net worth investors were the dominant players along with retailers, whilst foreign investors remained net sellers. Meanwhile the CSE held its market opening ceremony this morning at the trading floor with John Keells Holdings PLC, as the company with the highest market capital was invited to ring the opening bell. This ceremony is in keeping with a tradition of having the opening bell rung by companies within the S&P SL 20, on the first day of trading of each month. This was attended by members of the JKH Board including Susantha Ratnayake, Ajith Gunawardene, Ronnie Peiris and Krishan Balendra and CSE officials.