Sri Lanka *market update* ASPI close up, Moderate turnover

The market closed today posting a turnover of LKR 605,875,678 (USD 4.1mn) with the indexes moving up. ASPI closed at 6429.04 up 28.87 points (+0.45%) while the more liquid SP SL20 index closed at 3598.73 up 27.86 points (+0.78%). Crossings accounted for 29% of the turnover with one crossing each in PLC.N (LKR 20mn; USD 136k) and SAMP.N (LKR 153mn; USD 1,030k). Banking, Finance and Insurance sector was the highest contributor towards the turnover at LKR 362mn followed by Diversified sector and Manufacturing sector generating LKR 98mn and LKR 85mn. Foreign investors were net buyers of LKR 393mn worth of shares, while their participation in terms of revenue increased to 47.8% (previous day 10.7%). Estimated net foreign buying topped in SAMP.N LKR 162.8mn (USD 1,099k). Estimated net foreign selling topped in TKYO.X LKR 1.1mn (USD 8k). Retail activity was witnessed in counters such as COMB.N, JKH.N and COCR.N