Sri Lanka’s stock index closes marginally higher

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s stock index surrendered its early gains to close marginally higher on Monday as looming economic uncertainties weighed on the sentiment, brokers said, while the data showed the day’s turnover hit its lowest in four months.

The main All Share Price Index (ASPI), which shot up 100 points or nearly 1 percent to hit its highest since February 8 closed 0.09 percent or 11.01 points at 12,470.81 points.

The day’s turnover was 2.25 billion rupees, its lowest since October 12, and less than a third of this year’s daily average of 7.2 billion rupees.

“A lot of volatility was there in the market. We saw selling pressure returning today with the emergence of the downtrend. Although the market declined during the day, it picked up before the close,” a top market analyst said adding that investors see the reverse of positive sentiment.

“Market is trying to move up, but there is a lot of uncertainties in the market and the economics is affecting its gain.”