Bourse in recovery stage following oversell of shares

By Hiran H.Senewiratne

The stock market turned out to be in a recovery stage yesterday after the market saw an oversell of shares due to a dip in the market for two consecutive sessions. Only 27 Index points were secured in trading as against 160 points down during the last two sessions, market analysts said.

The market was dominated by two crossings; especially that of Agalawatte Plantations, but retail investor participation was significantly low. Out of the 801.2 million turnover only Rs 450 million had come from retail investors, due to political uncertainty, which resulted in the market becoming lacklustre.

Amid those developments both indices moved upwards. The All Share Price Index went up by 27 points while S and P SL20 rose by 14.47 points. Turnover stood at Rs 801.2 million with two crossings. Those crossings were reported in Agalawatte Plantations, which crossed 10.9 million shares to the tune of Rs 350 million; its shares traded at Rs 32 and Sampath Bank 300,000 shares crossed for Rs 23.25 million.

In the retail market top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were; Browns Investments Rs 34 million (6 million shares traded), LB Finance Rs 32.1 million (470,000 shares traded), JKH Rs 30.4 million (152,000 shares traded), NDB Rs 24.7 million (326,000 shares traded), LMF Rs 23.1 million (822,000 shares traded), Hayleys Rs 18.9 million (190,000 shares traded) and Dipped Products Rs 16 million (450,000 shares traded). During the day 33.6 million share volumes changed hands in 6287 transactions.

Yesterday the rupee opened slightly weaker at Rs 303.60/75 to the US dollar, while bond yields were broadly steady and stocks opened 0.41 percent up, dealers said.

The rupee closed at Rs 303.90/304.50 to the greenback yesterday. In the secondary market, yields were steady, dealers said. A bond maturing on 15.12.2026 was quoted at 10.75/85 percent, up from 10.70/85 percent. A bond maturing on 15.02.2028 was quoted at 11.85/95 percent. A bond maturing on 15.09.2029 was quoted stable at 12.05/10 percent.