ASPI bullish amidst renewed foreign interest

It was overall a bullish week for the Colombo Stock Exchange amidst foreign buying. The ASPI closed at 6366.31 up by 1.26% compared to the previous week with the S&P SL20 closing at 3363.27 up 1.84%.

Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy was appointed as the Governor of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka during the week. Dr. Coomaraswamy is an economist educated at Royal College Colombo and Harrow School in England. He obtained his undergraduate degree at Cambridge University and subsequently his Doctorate at the University of Sussex. Dr. Coomaraswamy served in the Economic Research, Statistics and Bank

Supervision Divisions as a staff officer from 1973- 1989. From 1981 to 1989 he was seconded to the Ministry of Finance and Planning.

The turnover levels for the week decreased by 10% and the aggregate weekly turnover was Rs. 2.46 billion. The foreigners appeared to be bullish during the week having recorded inflows of Rs. 1.49 billion; resulting in a net foreign inflow of Rs. 611.88 million.

Foreign interest was mainly seen on John Keells Holdings PLC. JKH closed the week at Rs 140.50, up by Rs. 5.50 during the week. The year to date net foreign outflow stands at Rs. 5.6 billion. The top 3 positive contributors to the ASPI during the week were John Keells Holdings PLC (Rs.140.50, + 4.07%), Ceylon Cold Stores PLC (Rs.590.00, +6.46%), Lanka Orix Leasing Company PLC (Rs. 83.80, +7.44%). Further, the top 3 negative contributors to the ASPI were Carson Cumber batch PLC (Rs.230.80, -3.71%), Ceylon Tobacco Company PLC (Rs. 1,043.10, -0.66%), Dialog Axiata PLC (Rs. 10.50, 0.94%). On the Technical analysis perspective the ASPI indicates a neutral view where the daily RSI stands at 44.98. Currently, the ASPI is below its 200 day Simple Moving Average level of 6613. els are 6282 and 6108, whereas the key resistant levels stand at 6489 and 6677.