Mar 30, Colombo: Sri Lanka stocks ended slightly lower today at the Colombo Bourse as selling a large stake of Millers by the Galle Face Hotels Group offset the gains made by National Development Bank. Apart from those market remained mostly inactive.

The main Colombo All Share Price Index lost 2.34 points or 0.08% to close at 2,789.81 while the highly capitalized Milanka Price Index gained 3.66 points or 0.10 to close at 3,837.56. The turnover was boosted to 1.49 billion rupees while foreign activity remained low with foreign purchases of only 66.7 million rupees and foreign sales of 23 million rupees. The trading volume closed at 9.8 million shares.

Millers traded one million shares at 684.00 rupees with a loss of 8.80% to dominate the turnover with 684.8 million rupees. National Development Bank followed by trading 1.34 million shares at 29.75 rupees gaining 16.50%. Fixed-line operator Sri Lanka Telecom rose 0.68% to 37.25 rupees trading 897,300 shares while market heavyweight mobile operator Dialog Telekom remained flat at 25.50 rupees trading 328,400 shares. Conglomerate John Keells Holdings fell 0.32% to close at 155.00 rupees.

Other major contributors to the turnover included Ceylon Theatres (114,700), Cargills (325,000), Bukit Darah (27,600), Distilleries (321,400), Tokyo Cement - Non Voting (789,700), Dockyard (354,900), Nations Trust Bank (325,500), Ceylon Leather (454,900), John Keels Hotels (1,038,200) and Kshatriya Holdings (255,200).

Oil Palms sector posted a healthy gain of nearly 8% while Footwear and Textiles and Construction and Engineering sectors gained above two percent. Information Technology sector posted a loss of 7.14% while Stores and Supplies sector closed down by 5.23%. Beverage, Food and Tobacco index closed down by 2.5 %.

Shalimar gained 299.00 rupees or 49.75% to top the gainer’s list. The other top gainers included Mahaweli Reach Hotel (21.43%), Ceylon Tobacco (18.64%), National Development Bank (16.50%) and Colombo Fort Investment (15.52%).

Hatton National Bank – non voting lost 52.75 rupees or 52.49% placing it at the top of the loser’s list. The other top losers included Colombo Theatres (-51.66%), Cargills (-26.83%), Gestetner (-12.73%) and Seylan Bank (-10.20%).

Rupee slipped slightly against the dollar today according to the Central Bank figures buying at 108.62 rupees and selling at 110.01.