Sri Lanka stocks close up 1.3-pct

May 20, 2013 (LBO) - Sri Lanka’s stock closed up 1.35 percent on Monday, driven by an extended rally in index heavy John Keells Holdings, though some selling was seen in the broader market, brokers said. LB Finance closed at 128.80 rupees down 3.90 rupees, Peoples Leasing and Finance gained 30 cents to close at 15.30 rupees and Commercial Leasing and Finance closed at 4.70 rupees down 10 cents.

Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka gained 3.80 rupees to close 189.50 rupees and Ceylon Tobacco Company gained 15.20 rupees to close at 885.00 rupees.

Aitken Spence closed at 135.00 down 10 cents. Browns Investments closed flat at 3.50 rupees.

Softlogic Holding gained 30 cents to close at 12.40 rupees. Hayleys closed at 314.15 rupees down 20 cents and Vallibel One closed at 20.90 rupees up 30 cents.

Sri Lanka Telecom closed flat at 44.50 and Dialog Axiata closed at 9.90 rupees up 10 cents.

The benchmark Colombo All Share Index closed 85.97 points higher at 6,466.67 and the S&P SL 20 Index closed 60.09 points higher at 3,649.35 up 1.67 percent.

Turnover was 1.2 billion rupees down from 1.4 billion rupees on Friday.

John Keells Holding which gained 13.10 rupees closed at 298.00 rupees and Nestle Lanka closed at 2090.00 rupees up 188.10 rupees, contributed most to the index gain, stock exchange data showed.

So far for this month JKH has gained 48 rupees.

JKH is now worth 254.7 billion rupees or about 2.0 billion US dollars and accounts for 10.14 percent of the market capitalization of the Colombo Stock Exchange.

But 113 stocks lost ground Monday while 101 advanced in a day that foreigners brought 350 million rupees worth shares while selling 62 million rupees of shares.

Chevron Lubrication Lanka gained 28.90 rupees to close at 286.00 rupees.

Hatton National Bank closed at 172.00 rupees up 90 cents, DFCC Bank closed at 150.00 rupees down 1.90 rupees, Commercial Bank of Ceylon closed 121.90 rupees up 2.10 rupees and National Development Bank closed at 178.00 rupees down 90 cents.

Pan Asia closed at 21.00 rupees down 30 cents. Union Bank of Colombo closed at 20.10 rupees down 10 cents and Sampath Bank lost 2.10 rupees to close at 226.00 rupees.