Sri Lanka shares fall on profit taking

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka stocks fell over 1-percent on Monday (26) pulled down on profit taking, dealers said.

The main All Share Price Index (ASPI) fell 1.21% or 120.59 points to close at 9,844.21.

“Market commenced the week on a negative note with profit taking visible on selected stocks as investors cut their margin positions ahead of the month end,” First Capital Market Researcch

Last Friday Sri Lankan officials had a meeting with its external creditors and it revealed that the IMF deal could come through in January 2023 however the officials are yet to decide on domestic debts.

The market saw a turnover of 4.5 billion rupees, slightly higher than the year’s average turnover of 3.26 billion rupees.

The bourse saw a net foreign inflow of 1.7 billion rupees on Friday. The inflow so far this year is 13.0 billion rupees after 14.4 billion rupees of net offshore buying in the last 29 consecutive sessions amid positive sentiment over an IMF deal.

The more liquid S&P SL20 index ended 1.44% or 46.11 points down at 3,156.90.

The main index ASPI has gained 8.5 percent in September so far after gaining 17.3 percent in August.

The index has lost 19.5 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.

Commercial bank dragged the index down, closing 3.3 percent lower at 52.2 rupees a share.

Richard Pieris closed 4.5 percent down at 31.7 rupees and John Keells fell 2.1 percent to 139.7 rupees a share. (Colombo/Sept26/2022)