Dialog results drag down Colombo stocks
2008-11-14 11:50:43

Dialog’s first nine months results released yesterday (after the stock market close) dampened the investor sentiment steeply pulling the indices down when Colombo stocks opened on Friday, stock analysts said.

Dialog saw a 86% drop in its profits to Rs 1.03 billion for the first nine months of the year against Rs 7.3 billion in the same period last year. Dialog fell by 25 cents to Rs 6.75 in early trade. “25 cents of Dialog equals six points in the All Share Index (ASI). Therefore the indices have drastically come down,” a stock analyst said, adding that the market had only Rs 183 million turnover just before noon.

Many stocks, amidst patchy movements in the morning, were on the downward trend with brokers saying retailers are on the selling mode which will be seen throughout today. The ASI was down by 26.92 points to 1,784.92 while the Milanka eased by 41.16 points to 1,980.44 just before noon..