Market gains again

The bulls were back at the Colombo Stock Exchange with the indices recording the fourth straight day of gains, though turnover remained low. The ASPI was up 51 points (+2.8%) to end the day at 1,873, while the MPI, which tracks the most liquid stocks, gained 55 points (+2.7%) to 2,087.

Total turnover was Rs 177 million, of which Rs 89 million was generated from John Keells Holdings which closed down at Rs 64.00. Other notable contributions came from AEC (Rs 7 million) and Ceylon Tobacco (Rs 3.5 million). AEC was unchanged at Rs 1,800.00 per share while CTC was at Rs 68.25, a drop of 25 cents.

Major movers included Hunas Fall Hotels of 31.6% to Rs 25.00, though on a small volume of 300 shares, Lanka Tiles, up 23.2% to Rs 42.50 and Keells Food Products, up 17.8% to Rs 53.00. Huejay International was down 27.2% to Rs 42.25 Asian markets were upbeat for the day as Central banks continued to pump liquidity into the markets.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 3%, India's Bombay Sensex was up 6% and Singapore's Straits Times Index was up 5%.

Source: First Guardian Equities