The bourse sank to a 1,147 calendar day low today, when it made daily turnovers of under Rs one billion for seven consecutive market days, with today’s value being Rs 885.2 million, dogged by sustained uncertainty led by domestic debt restructuring fears, high inflation and high interest rates.
Prior to today, the last time the bourse made daily turnovers of under Rs one billion for at least seven consecutive market days was more than three years ago when the COVID-19 crisis first hit Sri Lanka. Subsequently for 25 consecutive market days, ie from 30 January 2020 to 6 March 2020, the bourse made daily turnover levels of under Rs one billion. A high interest rate regime is inimical to the growth of the bourse as then; investors are attracted to the fixed income market, rather than to the latter.
However, market indices made pyrrhic gains for the third consecutive market day to today, with the ASPI today making a 1.09 per cent gain to 8,926.58 points and the S&P SL 20 Index by 1.36 per cent to 2,593.44 points. Subsequently the bourse suffered a net foreign outflow of Rs 1.82 million today, though in the calendar year to date it has enjoyed a net foreign inflow of Rs 1.50 billion. The number of shares that changed hands today was 46.56 million.