Sri Lanka stocks edged up on thin volumes Friday amidst speculation as to who the likely successor as the new Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), following the pre-announced resignation of Tilak Karunaratne, analysts said.
Mr. Karunaratne tendered his resignation Friday evening. He took this decision at a time where the SEC under him was seen taking tough regulatory measures against the so-called ‘pumping and dumping’ of shares and revived investigations which were halted midway, they added.
The main All Share Price Index was up 0.38 percent (13.18 points) to close at 4,927.13, while more liquid Milanka Price Index gained 0.63 percent (28.70 points) to close at 4,550.02. The S&P SL20 Index edged up 0.75 percent (13.20) to close at 2,792.08.
The market turnover was Rs.216.78 million, while the share volume stood at 12.13 million.
John Keells Holdings PLC was the top contributor for the weekly turnover with Rs. 991.8million. Further, Commercial Bank PLC and Sampath Bank PLC recorded noticeable subscriptions of Rs. 100.4million and Rs 73.7 million respectively. The traded share volume for the period was 90.9million shares which is an 8.6% increase compared to the previous week. Panasian Power PLC was the highest traded share with 10.1million shares changing hands during the week. (Bandula)
-Ends
