Sri Lanka shares close down 0.2-pct

July 23, 2014 (LBO) - Sri Lanka's shares closed 0.18 percent lower with index heavy John Keells Holdings losing ground despite net foreign buying, brokers said. Foreign investors bought 303.72 million rupees worth shares while selling 60.94 million rupees worth shares.

John Keells Holdings closed 4.60 rupees lower at 239.90 rupees, contributing most to the index drop.

JKHâ€™s W0022 warrants closed 10 cents lower at 64.90 rupees and its W0023 warrants closed 60 cents lower at 72.90 rupees.

Dialog Axiata closed 10 cents lower at 10.90 rupees and Sri Lanka Telecom closed 40 cents lower at 56.00 rupees.

Lion Brewery Ceylon closed 15.90 rupees lower at 663.10 rupees and Ceylon Cold Stores closed 7.50 rupees higher at 185.20 rupees.

The Colombo benchmark All Share Price Index closed 12.39 points lower at 6,783.98, down 0.18 percent. The S&P SL20 closed 14.01 points lower at 3,775.14, down 0.37 percent.

Turnover was 1.03 billion rupees, down from 1.42 billion rupees a day earlier with 113 stocks closed positive against 89 negative.

National Development Bank closed 2.60 rupees higher at 211.80 rupees with market transactions of 64.89 million rupees contributing 6 percent of the turnover.

Laugfs Gas closed 1.00 rupee higher at 34.90 rupees with an off-market transaction of 35.00 million rupees changing hands at 35.00 rupees per share contributing 3 percent of the daily turnover.

The aggregate value of all off-the-floor deals represented 7 percent of the turnover.

Guardian Capital Partners closed 4.80 rupees higher at 39.00 rupees and Renuka Shaw Wallace closed 30 cents higher at 18.10 rupees, attracting most number of trades during the day.