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CSE highs and lows

27 Feb 2022

By Imesh Ranasinghe  The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) had its worst week since the stock market started to fall from the third week of January, as trading was halted thrice in two days while Standard and Poor’s Sri Lanka 20 (S&P SL20) index fell by over 5%. On Monday (21), the All Share Price Index (ASPI) fell by 542.67 points (4.47%) from 12,134 points to 11,591.37 points while trading was halted for 30 minutes after a circuit breaker tripped following the fall. Expolanka and LOLC lost 52 and 59 points in the index. This marks the second largest daily decrease recorded by the ASPI in the history of the CSE, behind only the fall of 561.75 points (6.56%) of the ASPI recorded on 2 February 2021. Simultaneously, the S&P SL20 index closed the day down 203.98 points (4.93%), from 4,150.65 points to 3,936.67 points.The day’s turnover was recorded at Rs. 4.23 billion.  “Indices plunged 5% on the first trading day of the week due to mounting worries over the fuel and power crisis in the country amidst the drying market liquidity. Panic selling fuelled the sell-off but the circuit breaker was triggered only at the latter part due to the newly introduced calculation mechanism. Market was halted for 30 minutes from 1.44 p.m. to 2.14 p.m.; continued to witness selling even after the cooling off period,” Asha Securities said. On Tuesday (22), the market remained unchanged as ASPI gained by just 0.93 points ending the day at 11,592 while the S&P SL20 ended the day at 3,936.96 points. Bank shares such as Commercial Bank of Ceylon and Sampath Bank gained as they climbed in the ASPI by 6.2 points each while major shares such as LOLC continued to fall. “Colombo Bourse largely remained unchanged after witnessing massive losses in the previous session. Investor confidence was still in question due to the worries over the energy and the forex crisis fuelled by the tense situation in Russian borders. For the second day straight, a net foreign inflow was recorded; prevailing forex shortage in the country discouraging the foreign selling,” Asha Securities said. The net foreign inflow for the day was recorded at Rs. 81.64 million. On Wednesday (23), trading was halted twice during the day for 30 minutes as the S&P SL20 fell by about 5%, falling by a total of 8% at the end of the day as the market saw massive sell-offs. The ASPI fell by 374.54 points and ended the day at 11,217.76. The turnover of the day was recorded at Rs. 4.5 billion, up by 61% from the previously recorded Rs. 2.81 billion, while the total market capitalisation stood at Rs. 4.99 trillion, a YTD loss of 9.08%. It was announced that the Seylan Bank PLC’s (SEYB) Board of Directors approved the issue of 40 million listed rated BASEL III Compliant Tier 2 Unsecured Subordinated Redeemable Debentures with a non-viability conversion of Rs. 100 each amounting to Rs. 4 billion. At the discretion of the Board, the Bank will issue a further 20 million of such debentures amounting to Rs. 2 billion in the event of an oversubscription of the said issue of 40 million debentures.The tenure of these debentures will be not less than five years. 


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