Winning streak extends to the 9th straight session as ASPI peaks to a 2-year high

• 08 Apr 2024
• 0

Bourse continued to witness gains for the 9th consecutive day while ASPI peaked to the highest in 2 years, amidst heightened investor interest on Banking sector counters while mid-cap companies such as LIOC and BIL too supported the ASPI hike.

Index opened on a strong footing and jumped to an intra-day high of 11,943 shortly into the market opening. Subsequently, the index slid gently low, yet closed in the green territory at 11,920 gaining 125 points.

Within the Banking sector, COMB, SAMP and NDB positively contributed to the ASPI whilst HHL and CCS attracted strong buying appetite during the day. Meanwhile, CFVF too witnessed some interest in lieu of the XD date that falls tomorrow, 09th Apr-24.

Turnover continued to show robust improvement and recorded at LKR 3.2Bn (+50.9% cf. monthly average turnover of LKR 2.1Bn) with Banking sector (42%) and Capital Goods sector (18%) jointly dominating 60% of overall turnover.

Foreign investors continued to maintain the net buying position for the 2nd continuous session amidst moderate participation.

Bond auction draws full subscription

The secondary market wrapped the day on a dull note as investor activity remained sidelined ahead of the upcoming holiday season. However, today's T-Bond auction, totaling LKR 85.0Bn, saw robust participation where in phase I, the CBSL accepted 45.2% (LKR 38.4Bn) of the offered amount, while in phase II, CBSL fully accepted the total offered sum.

Moreover, weighted average yields during the auction was recorded at 11.44% for the 15.12.26 maturity whilst 12.37% and 12.51% was recorded for the 15.09.29 and 01.10.32 maturities, respectively. Further, all three maturities observed greater reception with bids recording more than 3x of the offer.

On the external side LKR continued to appreciate against the greenback and closed at LKR 299.38. Meanwhile, AWPR continued its downtrend as it shed 13bps, closing at 10.56% for the week ending 05-Apr-24. Moreover, foreign holdings in government securities increased by 1.2%WoW and registered at LKR 91.6Bn as at 04-Apr-24. Furthermore, foreign reserves inched up by USD 431.0Mn to USD 4,951Mn in Mar 2024 from USD 4,520Mn in Feb 2024.

Courtesy: First Capital Research

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