Sri Lankan stocks edged up on Friday on foreign buying of bluechips but the gain was capped by retail profit-taking in speculative shares, dealers said. The Colombo Stock Exchange's main index, or all share price index (ASPI), ended 0.14 percent, or 8.10 points, firmer at 5,910.07.
"The ASPI edged marginally higher amid volatility with improved activity levels due to trades on banking, insurance, telecommunication and diversified counters, inclusive of crossings accounting for a majority of turnover," John Keells stock brokers said in a note to investors.
The index had risen 19 percent in 15 sessions through to Monday on hope that a newly appointed Securities and Exchange Commission head would come up with ideas to revive the market, which is down 2.71 percent this year. The bourse has been overbought since August 28, Thomson Reuters data shows. The 14-day Relative Strength Index on Friday was at 81.116, well above the upper neutral range of 70.
Turnover on Friday was 1.36 billion rupees ($10.33 million) compared with this year's daily average of 924 million rupees. The bourse saw a net foreign inflow of 192.1 million rupees, extending the net foreign inflow this year to 30.1 billion rupees. The rupee closed firmer at 131.40/45 to the dollar compared with Thursday's close of 131.50/60 as on banks' demand for local currency, dealers said.
Comments
Comments are closed.