Capital markets: ASPI recovers toward 20,000 mark

The Colombo Stock Exchange staged a modest recovery yesterday (15), with the All Share Price Index (ASPI) climbing back toward the critical 20,000 mark after declining 281.42 points the previous day.

The ASPI closed at 19,971.15 points yesterday, gaining 175.09 points or 0.88% from Wednesday’s close of 19,796.06. The index remains 28.85 points below the 20,000 threshold. The S&P SL20 index also recovered, adding 22.59 points to settle at 5,699.02, a gain of 0.40%. Despite the index recovery, total market turnover declined to Rs 1,498,989,142.55 from Wednesday’s Rs 1,926,874,492.60. Trading volume stood at 51,559,886 shares with 2,535 total trades.

Yesterday’s market capitalisation was recorded at Rs 7,214,156,482,694.00, reflecting a daily change of +0.82% from Rs 7,155,400,509,879.25 seen on Wednesday. Foreign investors increased their selling activity, resulting in a net foreign outflow of Rs 76,179,666.05, compared to Wednesday’s net outflow of Rs 4,883,537.05. Domestic purchases were Rs 1,454,171,138.30 while domestic sales were Rs 1,377,991,472.25.

Foreign purchases amounted to Rs 44,818,004.25 while foreign sales were Rs 120,997,670.30. Domestic investors accounted for 94.5% of trading composition, with foreign investors at 5.5%. The YTD composition remains domestic at 84.1% and foreign at 15.9%.

Market multiples showed the P/BV at 1.19x, P/E at 10.30x, and dividend yield at 3.33%. On Wednesday, these stood at 1.18x, 10.22x, and 3.36% respectively.

The Advance/Decline Ratio stood at 2.88, indicating that advancing stocks outnumbered declining stocks by a significant margin, with 164 positive securities against 57 negative securities.

Carsons was the largest positive contributor to the ASPI, adding 33.87 points, followed by Distilleries (+15.76 points), Commercial Bank (+9.08 points), LOLC Holdings (+7.55 points), and LOLC Finance (+6.89 points). On the negative side, Sri Lanka Telecom was the largest drag, subtracting 6.12 points, followed by Ceylon Hotels (-5.24 points), Ceylon Tea (-4.57 points), Lambretta (-4.54 points), and John Keells Holdings (-3.61 points).

Among the top gainers, S M B Finance (X) rose 50.00% to Rs 0.30, York Arcade gained 17.54% to Rs 6.70, S M B Finance (N) added 11.11% to Rs 1.00, Eastern Merchant increased 10.59% to Rs 9.40, Mercantile Shipping climbed 10.52% to Rs 186.50, and LCB Finance gained 10.42% to Rs 5.30.

Among the top losers, Bogawantalawa declined 5.99% to Rs 64.30, Lanka Ventures fell 3.93% to Rs 46.40, Myland dropped 3.53% to Rs 16.40, Tal Lanka decreased 3.46% to Rs 25.10, and Kelani Valley declined 3.33% to Rs 75.40.