August 29, Colombo: This turned out to be somewhat of a laid back week with very less high profile activity taking place. The week saw the first two days on negative territory while the market bounced to positive grounds in the next two days.

However, the momentum acquired did not take its’ toll and the indices were back on negative sentiment on Friday. On overall terms All Share Price Index (ASPI) shrunk by 5.73 points (0.24%) to end the week at 2408.64 while the more liquid Milanka Price Index (MPI) crouched down by a more significant 22.98 points (0.82%) to settle at 2788.98.

Reason for dull atmosphere in the former half of the week was the decline in prices in some bluechips like John Keells Holdings PLC (JKH), Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka PLC (DIST) and Sri Lanka Telecom PLC (SLTL). The next two days ended on a healthy note particularly due to a gain in the LIOC price following the excellent financial performance in the first quarter with a 108% increase in the bottom line to Rs.1023Mn. Heavy retail trading was witnessed with the exception of few foreign institutional interest concerning JKH, Lanka IOC PLC (LIOC), Chemical Industries Colombo PLC (CIC) and Associated Motorways PLC (AMW).

However, speculative trading was seen in Vallibel Power Erathna PLC (VPEL) which topped the volume list on the first four days of the week. In addition, speculative interest was also felt on some counters with regard to the Land and Property sector. This was the most heavily traded share for the week, accounting for 14.53% of the volume with a collection of 7.83Mn shares. The counter was seen trading within a price range of Rs.4.30 and Rs.4.70 within the week.