Sri Lanka stocks fall 0.3-pct

Feb 21, 2014 (LBO) - Sri Lanka stocks fall 0.32 percent for the seventh consecutive day with losses in the tobacco and diversified stocks, brokers said. Nestle Lanka ended 79.10 rupees lower at 2,020.90 rupees and Ceylon Tobacco Company closed 12.20 rupees lower at 1,157.60 rupees, contributing most to the index drop.

Bukit Darah ended 9.30 rupees lower at 575.00 rupees and Distilleries closed 30 cents lower at 208.00 rupees.

Commercial Bank closed 1.10 rupees lower at 114.90 rupees and Commercial Leasing and Finance closed 20 cents higher at 4.10 rupees.

Dialog closed 10 cents higher at 9.20 rupees.

The Colombo benchmark All Share Price Index closed 18.88 points lower at 5,937.28, down 0.32 percent. The S&P SL20 closed 20.26 points lower at 3,237.27, down 0.62 percent.

Turnover was 1.07 billion rupees, up from 851.92 million rupees a day earlier, with stocks of 102 firms closing in the red against 65 gainers.

JKH closed 2.10 rupees lower at 212.30 rupees with 420.00 million rupees of an off market transaction contributing to 39 percent of the daily turnover.

The aggregate value of all off market deals accounted for 50 percent of the daily market turnover.

JKHâ€™s W0022 warrants closed 40 cents higher at 56.40 rupees and its W0023 warrants closed 2.00 rupees higher at 61.00 rupees, attracting most number of trades during the day.

Foreigners bought 244.05 million rupees worth shares while selling 682.59 million rupees of shares.