ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s shares edged down in mid day trade on Monday, after group earnings of Expolanka pushed the overall market down, an analyst said.
Profits at Sri Lanka based Expo Lanka Holdings, a logistics unit of SG Holdings of Japan, reported profits of 2.9 billion rupees for the December 2022 quarter, down 87 percent as the US Federal Reserve stopped its money spigots.
Read more; Sri Lanka’s Expolanka net down 87-pct as Fed stops printing money
“Investors expected the company to perform better than what the earnings showed as the market moved on green in November 2022, over submissions of proposals in response to call of expressions of interest for the acquisition of certain logistic companies in international markets keeping in line with its expansion plans” an analyst said.
All Share Price Index (ASPI) fell by by 0.70 percent or 62.97 points to 8,895.82, while the most liquid index was down by 0.99 percent or 27.79 points to 2,787.221. The market generated a revenue of 1 billion rupees within the first hour of trade.
Top losers during mid day trade were Expolanka, LOLC and Sampath Bank.
Life insurance counters were doing well but are not index heavy to affect the index, analysts said. (Colombo/Jan30/2023)