Sri Lanka markets up on beaten financials; investors await for CB’s Friday meeting with creditors
ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka stocks edged up on Thursday (22) pushed up by banking shares which fell in the three session fall early this week amid continued foreign inflows ahead of the central bank’s meeting with the island nation’s creditors over debt restructuring, dealers said.
The main All Share Price Index (ASPI) gained 0.89% or 87.97 points to close at 10,001.19. ASPI gained over 100 points in mid-day trade but slipped toward latter part of the trade.
“We are seeing a pullback in the market after it gained from 7,000 to 10,000 points,” an analyst said.
“The index needs to consolidate at some level and we are seeing that.”
He added that the investors are on the sidelines ahead of Friday’s central bank meeting with creditors over debt restructuring.
Another analyst said that the market moved up on buying interest in selected banking sector counters on the expectation that there will not be a domestic debt restructuring.
The market saw a turnover of 4.1 billion rupees, slightly higher than the year’s average turnover of 3.25 billion rupees.
The bourse saw a net foreign inflow of 324 million rupees on Thursday. The inflow so far this year is 11.2 billion rupees after 12.6 billion rupees of net offshore buying in the last 28 consecutive sessions amid positive sentiment over an IMF deal.
The more liquid S&P SL20 index ended 0.98% or 31.28 points up at 3,231.22.
The main index ASPI has gained 10.3 percent in September so far after gaining 17.3 percent in August.
The index has lost 18.2 percent so far this year after being one of the world’s best stock markets with an 80 percent return last year when large volumes of money were printed.
LOLC pushed the index up, closing 5.5 percent higher at 532 rupees a share.
Sampath Bank closed 4.4 percent up at 40.1 rupees and Hemas Holdings gained 6.2 percent to 68.8 rupees a share. (Colombo/Sept22/2022)
