Sri Lanka stocks reach another high on local buying

Sri Lanka stock market reached another high Thursday (29) at the Colombo Stock Exchange as local investors purchased shares while their foreign counterparts took profits from recently gained stocks.

The All-Share Price Index rose to an all-time high of 4,155.00 to exceed Tuesday's high of 4,134.46 by 0.50%. The more volatile Milanka Price Index barely changed to close at 4,695.39.



The turnover shot over 2 billion rupees with over 90% domestic purchases of 1.8 billion rupees, closing at 2.01 billion rupees while the share volume closed slightly over 141 million shares.

Foreigners sold shares worth 805 million rupees but purchased only 192 million rupees worth.

Raigam Salterns topped the list of gainers with a 68% gain selling 52.4 million shares. The other top gainers included Acme Printing and Packaging (44.34%), Colombo Land and Development Company (42.31%), Colombo Land and Development Company (21.62%) and Colombo Investment Trust (12.05%)

Sri Lanka's tiny stock market is performing outstandingly in the recent days as hopes of political stability in the country have raised local investor confidence for retail buying.

The bourse has gained 22.7 percent so far this year, making it the Asia's second best performing market.