Dull trading day with the ASPI closing in red

• 10 Mar 2025
• 0

The bourse started off on a mildly positive note before negative sentiment kicked in, causing the ASPI to decline, falling 115 points to close at 16,001.

The top negative contributors to the index were LLUB, SAMP, LOLC, COMB and DFCC. HNW participation was entirely absent, with no crossings reported in today’s trading session.

Retail investors had a quiet session as well, with low levels of buy sentiment in the market. Banking and blue-chip counters were the primary drivers of today's overall decline.

The turnover stood at LKR 824.6Mn, marking a 72.8% decrease from the monthly average. The Banking sector was the most significant contributor to the overall turnover with a 25% share, followed by the Capital Goods, and Food, Beverage & Tobacco sectors jointly contributing 29%. Foreign investors turned net buyers, with a net inflow of LKR 16.2Mn.

The yield curve remain unchanged on the back of moderate volumes

 The secondary market witnessed moderate volumes during today’s session with few trades taking place on the belly end of the curve. On the back of this, several trades were recorded on the 15.02.28 and 15.03.28 maturity, which traded between 10.00% - 10.05% whilst 01.05.28, 01.07.28 and 15.10.28 saw trades between 10.10% - 10.39%.

Moreover, trades were also observed on the 15.09.29 maturity at 10.73% whilst 15.10.30, 15.03.31 and 01.12.31 saw trades at 11.00%, 11.32% and 11.40%, respectively. Further, on Friday the Central Bank of Sri Lanka announced a bond auction for 12th March 2025, planning to raise a total of LKR 210.0Bn, of which LKR 85.0Bn is planned to be raised from the 15.12.2029 maturity whilst LKR 75.0Bn and LKR 50.0Bn, is expected to be raised from 15.12.2032 and 15.09.2034 maturities, respectively.

Meanwhile, in line with the decrease in bill auction rates, AWPR came further down by 03bps during last week to 8.33% whilst private sector credit recorded its first decline after several months by LKR 4.6Bn to LKR 8,151.4Bn in January 2025.

Courtesy: First Capital Research

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