Hayleys Group drives bullish market

By Hiran H.Senewiratne 

CSE activities were positive and bullish  throughout the day and they were mainly  driven by the Hayleys Group headed by Dhammika Perera, which saw a subdivision of all 14 listed Hayleys companies’ shares to enhance the Group’s market capitalisation, stock market analysts said.  

It is said that Hayleys share prices appreciated by 32 percent or  Rs. 187.50. Its shares started trading at Rs. 577.50 and at the end of the day they moved to Rs. 764. Dipped Products’ shares moved up by 31 percent or Rs. 138. Its shares started trading at Rs. 441 and at the end of the day they moved up to Rs. 579. This sub division would not increase the stated capital of any company, but would increase the liquidity of the shares as the number of existing shares increases. Confirming this, all these companies recorded huge price increases yesterday.

LOLC share prices appreciated by 24 percent or Rs. 56. Its shares started trading at Rs. 232 and at the end of the day they moved to Rs. 282.

Amid those developments both indices moved upwards. All Share Price Index went up by 246.60 points and S and P SL20 went up by 100.38 points. It is said that the All Share Price Index surpassed 8000 points for the first time in history, which closed at 8.184 points at the end of trading. Meanwhile, the S&P SL20 index, which includes the 20 largest and most liquid stocks also increased by 100.38 points (3.24%) to close at 3,196.73.

Turnover stood at Rs. 14.2 billion with ten crossings. Those crossings were reported in Sampath Bank, which crossed 3.1 million shares to the tune of Rs. 526 million and its shares traded at Rs. 170, HNB (Non Voting) 1.4 million shares crossed for Rs. 172 million its shares traded at Rs. 118, Dipped Products 292,000 shares crossed for Rs. 160.7 million and its shares traded at Rs. 550, CIC two million shares crossed for Rs. 137 million, its shares traded at Rs. 68. Meanwhile, DFCC’s 825,000 shares crossed for Rs. 61 million, its shares trading at Rs. 74, JKH 300,000 shares crossed for Rs. 35 million, its shares traded at Rs. 160, Aitken Spence 500,000 shares crossed for Rs. 35 million, its shares fetching Rs. 70, Tokyo (Non Voting) 3.56 million shares crossed for Rs. 27.3 million, its shares traded at Rs. 76.80, HNB Assurance 400,000 shares crossed for Rs. 24 million, its shares traded at Rs. 60 and Vallibel One 420,000 shares crossed for Rs. 20 million, its shares trading at Rs. 48.

In the retail market top five contributors to the turnover were, Dipped Products Rs. 1.8 billion (3.2 million shares traded), Hayleys Rs. 1.3 billion (1.8 million shares traded), Vallibel One Rs. 856 million (15.3 million shares traded), LOLC Rs. 797 million (three million shares traded) and JKH Rs.0.7 million (3.7 million shares traded). During the day 377.7 million share volumes changed hands in 66574 transactions.

Sri Lanka’s rupee was quoted around 197.50/198.50 to the US dollar in the one-month forwards market on Thursday while bond yields were steady, dealers said. Rupee last closed around 196.00/198.00 in the spot-next market on Wednesday against the greenback. The Central Bank’s indicative spot rate was 194.7980 on January 19, up from 193.6458.