Sri Lanka stocks close down 0.5-pct

Feb 20, 2014 (LBO) - Sri Lanka stocks close down 0.50 percent retreating for the sixth straight day with losses in the tobacco and banking stocks, brokers said. Ceylon Tobacco Company closed 29.00 rupees lower at 1,169.80 rupees and Commercial Bank closed 2.00 rupees lower at 116.00 rupees, contributing most to the index drop.

NDB Capital Holdings closed 34.90 rupees lower at 500.00 rupees and Bukit Darah ended 6.20 rupees lower at 584.30 rupees.

Nestle Lanka ended 19.60 rupees lower at 2,100.00 rupees and JKH closed 60 cents lower at 214.40 rupees.

Aitken Spence closed 1.00 rupee higher at 101.00 rupees and Distilleries closed 90 cents higher at 208.30 rupees.

SLT closed 20 cents higher at 41.90 rupees.

The Colombo benchmark All Share Price Index closed 30.08 points lower at 5,956.16, down 0.50 percent. The S&P SL20 closed 24.24 points lower at 3,257.53, down 0.74 percent.

Turnover was 851.92 million rupees, up from 714.64 million rupees a day earlier, with stocks of 123 firms closing in the red against 53 gainers.

Dialog closed flat at 9.10 rupees with 138.00 million rupees of off market transactions contributing to 16 percent of the daily turnover.

The aggregate value of all off market deals accounted for 48 percent of the daily market turnover.

JKHâ€™s W0022 warrants closed 3.00 rupees lower at 56.00 rupees and its W0023 warrants closed 1.00 rupee lower at 59.00 rupees, attracting most number of trades during the day.

Foreigners bought 311.21 million rupees worth shares while selling 469.42 million rupees of shares.