Economy & Market

Sri Lanka stocks close up 0.43-pct, bank stocks push turnover

The Colombo Stock Exchange All Share Price Index closed up 0.43 percent on Tuesday, while the S&P SL20 fell 0.26 percent, CSE data showed.

The ASPI was up 89.92 points at 21,156.10.

The S&P SL20 was down 15.62 points at 5,888.48.

Hatton National Bank and Commercial Bank saw a considerable fall in points as their dividends expired, resulting in the S&P SL20 index falling, analysts said.

Melstacorp (up 1.64 percent at 170.75 rupees), Sampath Bank (up 0.86 percent at 146.50 rupees), R I L Properties (up 2.79 percent at 25.80 rupees) were the top positive contributors to ASPI.

Hatton National Bank (down 1.83 percent at 399.50 rupees), Central Finance Company (down 1.97 percent at 223.50 rupees), LOLC Holdings (down 1.89 percent at 5.20 rupees) were the top negative contributors.

Turnover was 3.57 billion rupees. Capital goods contributed 452 million rupees.

Commercial Credit and Finance announced an interim dividend of 3 rupees per share. The share closed up 3.86 percent at 114.25 rupees.

People’s Leasing & Finance, a subsidiary of Sri Lanka’s People’s Bank, said it had completed a 5-year term loan facility of 10 billion rupees through an issue of trust certificates on private placement basis. The share closed up 0.45 percent at 22.50 rupees.

In global markets, India’s Nifty50 closed up 0.065 percent at 22,694.25 points. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng saw a fall of 0.70 percent at 25,116.53 points.

Source: Economy Next