The Colombo Stock Exchange closed lower on Friday, with both benchmark indices in the red as selling pressure built through the afternoon session.

The All Share Price Index fell 68.26 points, or 0.33%, to 20,812.64, while the S&P SL20 declined 18.15 points, or 0.31%, to 5,883.50. The ASPI briefly approached the 20,800 level before a modest late recovery limited the loss.

Turnover was subdued at Rs. 873.38 million on 29.94 million shares — back below the Rs. 1 billion mark after Thursday’s banks-led session. The Banks sector again led activity with Rs. 244.40 million, while SING.N recorded the highest single-counter turnover at Rs. 157.29 million.

Thin participation behind the headline numbers

Crossings accounted for 42% of total turnover, led by SING.N at about Rs. 156.35 million, with block transactions also recorded in Sampath Bank, Lanka IOC and NDB. Market breadth was negative, with 78 gainers against 116 decliners for an advance-decline ratio of 0.67. Foreign investors were net sellers of roughly Rs. 140.21 million.

Carson Cumberbatch was the largest drag on the index, followed by Commercial Bank, SINS.N, LOLC Finance and Bukit Darah. Lion Brewery was the strongest positive contributor.

The combination of sub-Rs. 1 billion turnover, weak breadth, heavy crossing concentration and continued foreign selling points to cautious broad participation, according to the session commentary published by Almas Equities Research.

A negative week

Over the week as a whole the ASPI lost about 224 points, or 1.1%, Hiru News reported, with average daily turnover easing to Rs. 1.1 billion from Rs. 1.2 billion the previous week. Monday produced the year’s lowest daily turnover at Rs. 596 million. Foreign investors were net sellers of Rs. 134 million across the week, taking cumulative net foreign selling to Rs. 57.4 billion.

Hiru attributed the week’s negative tone to Middle East tensions and firmer oil prices, alongside rising Treasury bill yields and month-end margin selling. Banking counters including Sampath Bank, HNB and Commercial Bank drew selective high-net-worth interest, as did construction counters Access Engineering and Royal Ceramics.

Update, 3 October: EconomyNext confirms the session, and the S&P SL20 print

EconomyNext’s own filing on the session matches the Daily Mirror and Hiru accounts on every headline figure — the ASPI down 68.26 points, or 0.33%, at 20,812.64, turnover of Rs. 873.38 million, and the Banks sector leading with Rs. 244.40 million. It adds that Real Estate Management and Development recorded the second-highest sector turnover at Rs. 177.44 million.

On the individual counters, EconomyNext names Citizens Development Business Finance (up 5.15% at Rs. 34.70), Richard Pieris (up 2.31% at Rs. 26.60), PGP Glass Ceylon (up 1.63% at Rs. 56.10) and Sri Lanka Telecom (up 1.43% at Rs. 85.10) as the positive contributors, against Carson Cumberbatch (down 2.67% at Rs. 710.00), Singer Sri Lanka (down 3.05% at Rs. 76.20), SMB Finance (down 8.33% at Rs. 1.10) and Commercial Bank (down 0.49% at Rs. 202.00).

Raynal Wickremeratne, Head of Research and Strategy at NDB Securities, told EconomyNext: “Trading started off extremely slowly before picking up slightly in the final hour, with crossings in Sampath Bank, LIOC, and NDB accounting for roughly 350 to 400 million rupees — almost half the day’s total turnover.”

That is close to the 42% crossings share Almas Equities Research reported, though the two accounts attribute the volume differently: Almas puts SING.N at the head of the crossings at about Rs. 156.35 million, while NDB Securities’ Rs. 350–400 million band covers Sampath Bank, Lanka IOC and NDB. The reports do not reconcile the composition.

Correction to the earlier note on the S&P SL20: EconomyNext puts the close at 5,886.72, down 14.93 points — effectively Hiru’s 5,887 rather than the Daily Mirror’s 5,883.50. Both prints reconcile to Thursday’s close of 5,901.65 (5,883.50 + 18.15 and 5,886.72 + 14.93 both give 5,901.65), so the implied-previous-close test does not settle the dispute, as this article previously implied. With two newsrooms now independently reporting 5,886.72/5,887 against the Daily Mirror’s single print, the balance of reporting favours a close of 5,886.72. The ASPI figure is not in dispute.