CSE finishes the week lower, turnover continues to be extremely poor

August 3, 2018 (LBO) - Major indices at the Colombo Stock Exchange finished the week lower on extremely low levels of total market turnover. For the week, the ASPI was down .16% while the S&P SL 20 was down 1.1%. Turnover continued at low levels witnessed last week, with average daily total market turnover of just US$1.8mn. The trend of foreign selling continued with net foreign sales for the week of US$500,000. The market is cheap trading below 10 times earnings and just 1.2 times book value, however the low levels of turnover indicate a lack of interest in the market as a whole by investors. Corporate earnings have so far been lacklustre, led by a 23% drop in profits by market bellwether John Keells Holdings (JKH) for the June quarter. For the year 2018, the ASPI is down 3.5% and the S7P SL 20 is down 9.5%.