Stock market Searching for Direction…21st Dec 2010

The All Share Price Index edged up 18.1 points to close at 6,378.9 points (+0.3%), however the Milanka Price Index dipped 5.2 points to close at 6,828.87 points (-0.1%).

The total turnover was LKR1,251.5 mn (USD11,261.5 k)  vs. 12-month average daily turnover of LKR2,395.8 mn (USD21,559.0 k) whilst the volume traded for the day was 76,388 k against the 12-month average daily volume of 74,500.0 k.

Top traded counters were

Both indexes edged up marginally in the morning session, but MPI closed in red in the evening session. Commercial bank and heavy weight John Keels Holdings saw intuitional interest. While High net-worth and retail participation continued in Bairaha farms and Ceylon Grain Elevators in expectation of better performance during the December quarter with the festive season around the corner. Further, Intuitional play was evident in Laufgs Gas (Non voting) during the day.

Net outflow of foreign funds was seen during the day, where foreign purchases amounted to LKR250.5 mn (USD2,255.9 k), whilst foreign sales amounted to LKR470.2 mn (USD4,231.1 k).

Market capitalization is at LKR2,124.6 bn. YTD market performance is up 88.4%.

TKS Securities (Pvt) Ltd