Colombo stocks low on turnover ahead of Central Bank policy rate announcements

Colombo shares lost nearly Rs. 2 billion in turnover on Wednesday likely owing to expected policy rate hikes by the Central Bank on Thursday, stockbrokers said.

On Thursday, the Central Bank hiked interest rates and brought in other measures to improve the country’s sagging foreign reserves.

From Tuesday's turnover of Rs.7.1 billion, Rs. 1.7 billion was lost on Wednesday to stand at Rs. 5.56 billion.

The All Share Price Index (ASPI) was up by 0.04 per cent or five points to close at 13,462 with S&P Index gained by 0.30 per cent or 13.39 points to 4624 as at market close.

Vallibel One and ACL shares were active today, contributing nearly Rs. 375 million each to the turnover. Expolanka Holdings witnessed some profit-taking and contributed negatively to the ASPI by 22 points while CTC contributed 10 points to its increase.

Analysts said that the recent Hela initial public offering funds will come into the market by next Tuesday which will improve the indices and turnover.

With increasing tourist arrivals, traders today pursued the hotel sector stocks.

An analyst said the December quarter corporate earnings are promising and there is much more room for the indices to grow.