The Colombo bourse maintained its winning momentum, notching up its 4th consecutive day of gains, as the bullish brigade charged ahead and settled at 11,479, making a gain of 35 points during the day.
The banking counters, comprising HNB, DFCC, and NDB, took the lead as the top 3 positive contributors shaping the index's trajectory for the day, while blue-chip favorites including HAYL and MELS also left their mark among the top contributors of the day.
Moreover, the hotel sector, led by AHPL, witnessed investor interest during the day, as tourist arrivals surpassed 600,000 in 1Q2024. Additionally, the diversified financial sector counter, CALT, also garnered investor interest throughout the day, fueled by expectations of dividends following CFVF's dividend announcement.
Meanwhile, the market turnover soared to a near 2-month peak, hitting LKR 4.1Bn, a 125.7% surge over the monthly average of LKR 1.8Bn. The Consumer Durables, Consumer Services, and Banking sectors combined forces to drive a significant 77% of the market turnover.
Furthermore, foreign investors continued to remain as net buyers during the day, recording a net inflow of LKR 765.7Mn for the day.
Bond Market adopts a sluggish stance
The secondary bond market commenced the week on a sluggish stance, continuing the trend from the previous session as the market remained broadly stagnant.
Limited activities were recorded throughout the day as short and mid tenors enticed most of the trades with 15.05.26 maturity traded at 11.28, 15.12.26 traded at 11.30%, 15.12.28 traded at 12.15% and 15.03.31 traded at 12.35%.
Notably, AWPLR was recorded below the 11.00%, mark at 10.69% for the week ending 28th Mar-24, registering a 2-year low, influenced by the 50bps rate cut announced at the Monetary Policy review meeting which was held on the 25th Mar-24. CBSL holdings declined during the day and recorded at LKR 2,675.6Bn. On the external side LKR slightly appreciated against the USD recording at LKR 300.4.
Courtesy: First Capital Research
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