Very attractive prices may have drawn some foreign funds to the Colombo bourse this week, foremost of which is JK Holdings in which a massive eight million shares were purchased by these funds. Immediately after this trade was finalized, JKH released superb growth figures.
This transaction coupled with a 3.7 million Commercial Bank share transaction helped to swell the days' turnover in excess of Rs 2 billion, after a very long time. Commercial Bank is also expected to release substantial growth figures. Subsequent to this the market went on the upside especially on Friday, with the ASI gaining around 180 points creating a much welcome sentiment after a long interval. Earlier in the week on Monday and Tuesday the market went into a bad slump wiping off billions in value due to forced selling on margin calls plus a phase of unwarranted panic selling. On Tuesday, the market was catastrophic as it tumbled heavily, the ASI losing almost 211 points mid-day but staged a recovery to lose 127 points at close. Many analysts were at a loss to understand why the market dipped so badly given many factors like the effort by the CSE to promote the Colombo stock market as an ideal market for investments, emphasised by the fact that the London Stock Exchange was seeking to collaborate with Colombo, and that the Qatar State owned Investment Authority seeking a stake in the Colombo Stock Exchange through Qatar Holdings.
Another high powered group, Aitken Spence had a minor upside following its profit of Rs 630 million by the sale of its 30% stake in Colombo International Container Terminals Ltd. Watawala Plantations Ltd are arranging for the sale of its holding in Watawala Marketing Ltd for Rs.741.5 million.
In the books the carrying (value) is Rs.355 million. During the week Free Lanka Capital, Pan Asian Power, and the duo - Waskaduwa Beach and Kalpitiya Beach Resorts were actively traded.
However Asia Asset Finance was the most active for yet another week. On Friday when confidence returned to the market all-round buying was evident, but most pronounced in Commerical Bank Normal and Voting shares, and Nations Trust Bank, in which prices were higher. Commercial Bank voting closed at Rs.104, while NTB closed at Rs.61.50. The other interesting price structures were that of Nuwara Eliya Hotels at Rs.1287.50 and Nestle at Rs.906. Price Bands: It was imposed on Asia Asset Finance from 23rd January to 27th January 2012. Changes in directorates: Nanda Investments & Finance Ltd - Wimal Gamage and Hema Ruklantha Mayadunne resigned from the Board on 20th January 2012 while
Osanda Manjusri Gamage and Ms Chanika Mallawarachchi were appointed Non-Executive Directors on January 20, 2012; Infrastructure Developers PLC - Harsha N.de Silva, Ms Dimanthi L de Silva and H G Sagara Kariyawasam were appointed Directors on 19th January 2012; Sampath Bank - Prof. K A Malik Kumar Ranasinghe was appointed alternate Director to D. Sooriyaarachchi on 15th January 2012, Channa Palansuriya was appointed Deputy Chairman and Sanjiva Senanayake a Senior Director. The turnover of Rs. 6.7 billion was an improvement over last week's figure of Rs. 4.4 billion mainly because of the high level of activity on Thursday and Friday. The All Share Price index was 0.5% or 57.03 points lower to close at 5725.44, while the Milanka was just 5.89 points or 0.05% better at 4921.81. |
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