SL’s debt-restructuring problems cast shadow on share-trading; indices dip

By Hiran H.Senewiratne

The stock market yesterday witnessed some profit- taking by some share investors mainly due to delays in the external debt restructuring exercise. Sri Lanka expects to implement a debt restructuring framework in June this year but this will likely be delayed further, market analysts said.

Sri Lanka has failed to strike an agreement with international bondholders on restructuring more than US $12 billion in debt, a mandatory requirement set out by the IMF. This essentially accounts for the relevant delays.

All Share Price Index went down by 28.07 points, while S and P SL20 declined by 23.12 points. Turnover stood at Rs 2.1 billion with five crossings.

Those crossings were reported in JKH, which crossed 279,000 shares to the tune of Rs 56.6 million; its shares traded at Rs 202.50, DIMO 850,000 shares crossed for Rs 54.2 million; its shares traded at Rs 638, Sierra Cables 4 million shares crossed for Rs 50 million; its shares traded at Rs 12.50, Access Engineering 1 million shares crossed to the tune of Rs 25.4 million; it shares traded at Rs 24.40 and NDB 300,000 shares crossed for Rs 23.4 million; its shares traded at Rs 78.

In the retail market, the top seven companies that mainly contributed to the turnover were, Browns Investments Rs 137.8 million (20.9 million shares traded), LOLC Finance Rs 127 million (17.7 million shares traded), Royal Ceramic Rs 113 million (3.2 million shares traded), JKH Rs 103 million (508,000 shares traded), Sunshine Holdings Rs 81.6 million (1.2 million shares traded), Lanka Milk Food Rs 79.5 million (2.6 million shares traded) and NDB Rs 66.5 million (851,000 shares traded). During the day 135 million share volumes changed hands in 19000 transactions.

Yesterday, the rupee opened at Rs297.20/40 to the US dollar from Rs 297.15/35 the previous week, dealers said.

Bond yields were down, dealers said. A bond maturing on 15.12.2026 was quoted down at 10.62/67 percent from 10.70/75 percent. A bond maturing on 15.03.2028 was quoted down at 11.40/50 percent from 11.45/55 percent.