Sri Lanka stocks fall after violent attack on protesters, profit taking
ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka stocks fell on Friday (22) for the first time in six consecutive sessions after the new President Ranil Wickrememesinghe ordered the military and police in an emergency order to clear protesters from the Presidential Secretariat, brokers said.
The main All Share Price Index (ASPI) closed 0.19% or 14.59 points down at 7,721.78.
“This violence could have been avoided. Market now expects more protests to build up like in the past and create more uncertainty,” a broker said.
Sri Lanka is facing its worst fuel crisis in its post-independent era and the economy is expected to contract between 8-10% this year.
Foreigners bought a net of 123 million rupees. However, the total foreign outflow so far this year is 678 million rupees.
The turnover was 866 million rupees, less than a third of this year’s average daily turnover of 3.1 billion rupees.
The main ASPI has gained 4.9% in July so far after falling 9.3% in June, reversing a 6% gain in May. It lost 23% in April followed by a 14.5% fall in March.
The market has lost 36.8% so far this year after being one of the world’s best stock markets with an 80% return last year when large volumes of money were printed.
Hatton National Bank fell 2.6% to 80 rupees a share, while Browns Investments closed 2.5% down at 7.80 rupees a share. (Colombo/July 22/2022)
