More pain as afternoon selloff takes Sri Lanka stocks to lowest close in 2018

June 26, 2018 (LBO) - The Colombo Stock Exchange sold off in the afternoon after being up for the first half of the session. The selloff took the market to the lowest close year to date, ahead of a poya (full moon) holiday tomorrow. The broader indices were both weak, with the ASPI closing down .52% and the S&P SL 20 finishing down .68%. Year to date the ASPI is down 2.85% and the S&P SL 20 down a more notable 7.46%. Turnover was a tepid Rs542mn (US$3.4mn), with transactions in John Keells Holdings (JKH) accounting for 40% of total market turnover. The selloff started just before noon, shortly after block trades in JKH. Sri Lanka's only blue chip (JKH) closed at Rs148, down 1.3%. The trend of foreign selling continued with net sales of Rs26mn (US$160,000)