Colombo Bourse - positive trend continues

By Gamini WARUSHAMANA

The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) completed another successful week and the ASPI up by 430.05 points or 7.82 percent. The positive trend which started in August continued with investor confidence building up after the replacement of the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and dialogue with stakeholders to eliminate irregularities.

“We have witnessed the market rise continuously to be the fourth best performing market in the world during the past two weeks. At one time last year it was the best performing market thanks to a few pump and dump investors.

To a sustainable market investor awareness is crucial,” an analyst said. “Even though Sri Lanka has a literacy rate of 92-95 percent, our financial literacy rate is less than five percent. Every time there is a market downturn, retail investors pay the price and lose confidence in the capital market. It is important to protect investors to save the capital market” he said.

“This country needs capital inflow for development. Investors have several choices. The main expectation is confidence and an orderly market.

It is the prime duty of the SEC to protect investors and enhance their financial literacy. The unit trust is the answer to protect small timers,” an analyst said.

The week started positively on Monday. The ASPI up by 1.73 percent to 5592.03 and SandP SL 20 up by 1.43 to 3026.50. On Tuesday stocks closed marginally low and the ASPI was down by 1.13 points or 0.02 percent at 5590.90, the SandP SL 20 index closed at 3,034.0, up 7.50 points or 0.25 percent. On Wednesday stocks were up 1.38 percent and the ASPI rose by 77.4 points to 5568.3and the SandP SL 20 up 1.29 percent to 3,073.2.

On Thursday the ASPI was up by 108.9 points or 1.9 percent to 5577.2 and SandP SL 20 up by 1.93 to 3132.5.