Increasing tourist arrivals rendering hotel sector shares attractive

By Hiran H. Senewiratne

Since the country has seen a revival in the tourism sector, recording 143, 039 tourist arrivals for July, the highest monthly arrivals recorded for the year, a positive impact was seen yesterday in hotel sector shares, market analysts said.

In the first seven months, Sri Lanka welcomed 767, 913 visitors, compared to 719, 978 during the same period the previous year. India was the top tourist traffic generator, accounting for 16 percent of total arrivals.

Amid those developments both CSE indices moved upwards. The All Share Price Index went up by 136.5 points and S and P SL20 rose by 64.7 points. Turnover stood at Rs 6.6 billion with six crossings. Those crossings were reported in NDB, which crossed 13.2 million shares to the tune of Rs one billion at Rs 81.50 a share, CCS 1 million shares crossed to the tune of Rs 48 million and its shares traded at Rs 48, JKH 250,000 shares crossed for Rs 42.5 million; its shares traded at Rs 170, HNB 200,000 shares crossed for Rs 40 million; its shares fetched Rs 200, Melstacope 329,000 shares crossed to the tune of Rs 26.3 million and its shares traded at Rs 80 and Hemas Holdings 300,000 shares crossed for Rs 24 million and its shares sold at Rs 80.

In the retail market top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were; JKH Rs 398 million (2.3 million shares traded), HNB Rs 352 million (1.7 million shares traded), Pan Asia Bank Rs 337 million (18.8 million shares traded), Expolanka Holdings Rs 293 million (1.9 million shares traded), Commercial Bank Rs 287 million (2.8 million shares traded), NDB Rs 274 million (3.3 million shares traded) and Sampath Bank Rs 273 million (3.5 million shares traded). During the day 186 million share volumes changed hands in 33000 transactions.

It is said high net worth and institutional investor participation was noted in JKH and NTB. Mixed interest was observed in DFCC Bank, NDB and Commercial Bank, while retail interest was noted in Browns Investments, Shaw Wallace Investments and Pan Asia Banking Corporation.

The Banking sector was the top contributor to the market turnover (due to NDB, HNB and Commercial Bank), while the sector index gained 2.19 percent.The Capital Goods sector was the second highest contributor to the market turnover (due to JKH) while the sector index increased by 0.47 percent.

Separately ACL Cables and Bansei Royal Resorts Hikkaduwa announced their dividends of Rs 1.25 and 20 cents per share respectively.Yesterday, the Central Bank’s US dollar buying rate was Rs 308.60 and selling rate Rs 322.20.