Sri Lankan shares close flat

Indices at the Colombo Stock Exchange ended on a mixed note today as small and medium cap stocks picked up while declines were seen in large cap stock.
 

The ASPI, which tracks the movement of all the stocks in the market, was up just a point to close at 3,516 while the MPI, which tracks the movement of the 25 most liquid stocks, was down 29 points (-0.7 percent) to close at 4,001.
 

Turnover for the day was Rs 1 billion with John Keells Holdings accounting for Rs 178 million in turnover. JKH closed the day at Rs 179.00, down Rs 1.00. Environmental Resources closed up Rs 8.25 to end at Rs 77.00 on turnover of Rs 84 million. ERI Warrants W0000 and W0001 closed up Rs 8.00 and Rs 7.75 to end close at Rs 56.50 and Rs 56.75 respectively.
 

Of the large cap companies, Sri Lanka Telecom closed at Rs 43.50 (up 50 cents), Dialog Telekom closed at Rs 6.75 (down 25 cents), Carson Cumberbatch & Co closed at Rs 561.00 (up Rs 9.25) and Commercial Bank closed at Rs 196.00 (down Rs 1.25).
 

Distilleries Company closed at Rs 116.75 (down 25 cents), while Aitken Spence & Co closed at Rs 1,230.00 (down Rs 45.25) and Lanka Milk Foods closed at Rs. 70.25 (down 25 cents). At the end of the day 77 stocks were up while 62 were down. Foreign purchases were Rs. 252 million while sales were Rs. 217 million.
 

Asian markets were mostly positive with Japan’s Nikkei Index up 1 percent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index up 0.5 percent, and Singapore’s Straits Times Index up 0.4 percent. India’s Bombay Sensex and China’s CSI index closed flat for the day.  (First Guardian)