Construction sector counters witness some bounce

By Hiran H.Senewiratne 

Construction sector related counters at the CSE slightly appreciated yesterday following the Central Bank announcement of a new lending rate cap for housing loans of 7 percent, stock market analysts said. 

The Central Bank will introduce maximum interest rates on mortgage-backed housing loans for salaried workers from licensed banks and set lending targets for certain sectors in the near future in conformity with the policies of the government, Central Bank Governor Deshamanya Prof. W.D. Lakshman said while addressing the final monetary policy review press conference for this year. The press conference was held online yesterday.

Consequently, several construction  sector related counters including, Royal Ceramic, Swisstec,  Tokyo Cement, ACL Cables and Alumax shares slightly appreciated. It is said that Royal Ceramic increased by Rs. 1.10 or  1 percent, Swisstec by Rs. 2.40 or three percent, Tokyo Cement voting and non voting 3 percent, ACL Cables 3 percent and Alumax by 4 percent during the day.   

In this context both indices also moved upwards slightly. The All Share Price Index went up by 6.33 points and S and P SL20 by 7.47 points. The turnover stood at Rs. 1,98 billion sans a single crossing. 

In the retail market, companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were, Expolanka Rs. 175.9 million (6.9 million shares traded), Hayleys Fabrics Rs. 144.7 million (5.7 million shares traded), Dipped Products Rs. 142.4 million (429,000 shares traded), ACL Cables Rs. 123.7 million (1.8 million shares traded), Melstacorp Rs. 109.8 million (2.8 million shares traded), Tokyo Cement (Voting) Rs. 100 million (1.5 million shares traded) and Tokyo Cement (Non Voting) Rs. 100 million (1.77 million shares traded).During the day 69 million share volumes changed hands in 17616 transactions.

High net worth and institutional investor participation was noted in Dipped Products, JKH and Lion Brewery Ceylon. Mixed interest was observed in ACL Cables, Access Engineering and Tokyo Cement Company non-voting, while retail interest was noted in Expolanka Holdings, Kelani Tyres and Melstacorp.