Economy & Market

Sri Lanka stocks close down 1.63-pct, capital goods push turnover

Sri Lanka’s Colombo Stock Exchange closed down on Thursday, data showed, as global uncertainty rose after cargo ships in the Gulf region were attacked.

Brent crude prices rose towards $100 per barrel. As at 6.20 am today, price per barrel was around $101.59.

The ASPI closed down 1.63 percent, or 363.43, at 21,988.12.

The S&P SL20 closed down 1.47 percent, or 92.04 points at 6,187.66.

John Keells Holdings (down 2.43 percent at Rs.20.10), Hatton National Bank (down 1.88 percent at Rs.418.00), and Melstacorp (down 2.06 percent at Rs.166.75) were top negative contributors to the ASPI.

Market turnover was 4.1 billion rupees. Most of this came from trades in capital goods (1.298 billion rupees) stocks.

In regional markets, India’s BSE SENSEX was down 0.63 percent at 76,378.91 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 0.70 percent at 25,716.76.

Melstacorp said it has sold 2,000,000 shares of its 4,250,264,664 shares of Distillery Company of Sri Lanka, at Rs.59.00 per share, lowering its stake marginally from 92.40 percent to 92.35 percent.

source: Economy Next