• ASPI closes at 22,588
• By Nethmi Rajawasam

The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) saw its strongest single-day performance in the past few weeks yesterday (16), since the announcement of the ceasefire on 8 April, with the All Share Price Index (ASPI) moving up 327 points to 22,588.97, the CSE Daily market report from yesterday showed.

Meanwhile, market capitalisation grew by Rs. 136 billion in a single session, reaching Rs. 8.13 trillion. Turnover increased by 63% from the prior sessions to Rs. 4.96 billion, owing to the broad-based participation across multiple sectors, according to the report.

In line with previous sessions, Foreign investors remained net sellers with outflows accelerating to Rs. 126 million on 16 April, bringing the cumulative net foreign outflow over the three sessions to Rs. 321 million.

In top gainers, the Health care equipment and Services sector saw a 6.12% single-day gain, bringing its year-to-date return to 13%. The Real Estate sector gained 2.02% and returned 17% year-to-date, while Telecommunication Services rose 2.85%. The Capital Goods and Diversified Financials sectors together accounted for 34.5% of total market turnover.

Among individual stocks, Softlogic surged 24.6% to Rs. 16.20 on turnover of Rs. 227.9 million, while Asiri Surgical advanced 21.6% benefiting from the healthcare rally. Carsons contributed 25.94 points to the ASPI, the most of any single stock, followed by Ceylinco Holdings with 24.05 points and Hayleys with 19.36 points.

The market’s advance-decline ratio was strongly positive, with 119 securities advancing by more than 2% compared to only 13 securities declining by more than 2%.

The CSE’s 1.47% gain significantly outpaced most regional peers, with South Korea’s KOSPI however having risen by 2.2% with a 47.7% year-to-date return. India’s Nifty 50 declined 0.3% yesterday, while Pakistan’s Karachi All Share Index rose 1.1%, and Bangladesh’s DSE Broad index gained 0.5%.