Sri Lanka’s benchmark share index closed flat on Monday after rising almost 1.7 percent in early trade as selling by retail investors offset bargain-hunting buying pressure. Sri Lanka’s main share index CSE edged 1.00 points or 0.01 percent up to 6,834.61.
It is Asia’s best performer in 2010 with a 101.9 percent gain. Last week, the index fell 5.3 percent in through Thursday before rising 0.9 percent on Friday.
Analysts said investors were waiting for direction and the key factor would be September quarterly earnings, which are expected to be released starting from this week onward. Conglomerate Aitken Spence SPEN.CM, which started trading after a 15-for-one share split, gained 1.7 percent.
The index has dropped to a neutral region from the overbought zone with the 14-day relative strength index (RSI) on Monday was at 66.6, below the upper neutral limit of 70,
Thomson Reuters data showed. The index was at 92.4 on Oct.1. It is trading at the highest forward price-to-earnings ratio in Asia and global emerging markets at 21.3 times, compared with 13.3 for all of Asia and 12.3 for global emerging markets, Thomson Reuters StarMine data showed.
Market turnover was 6.7 billion rupees ($59.9 million), more than eleven times the 2009 average. Foreign investors sold a net 542.8 million rupees in shares and they have overall sold 18.3 billion rupees’ worth this year.