COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, August 18, 2025 (ePRESS) – The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) saw a strong day of trading on Monday with the benchmark All Share Price Index (ASPI) climbing 252 points, or 1.25 percent, to close at 20,471.
The index held steady gains throughout the session, boosted mainly by retail investors and supported by high-net-worth (HNW) investor participation. The rally came on the back of positive quarterly earnings, which lifted overall market sentiment.
Top contributors to the day’s rise were Commercial Bank (COMB), Carsons (CARS), Melstacorp (MELS), John Keells Holdings (JKH) and DFCC Bank.
Turnover reached LKR 7.7 billion, a 21 percent increase over the monthly average of LKR 6.4 billion. The banking sector dominated with 28 percent of turnover, while Diversified Financials and Capital Goods together added 34 percent.
Hatton National Bank (HNB) led market turnover at LKR 566 million (7%), followed by LOLC Venture Fund (LVEF) at LKR 420.9 million (5%). LVEF also topped the volume chart with 42.8 million shares (17%), while CSLK ranked second with 13 million shares (5%). Total share volumes slipped to 247.6 million.
Foreign investors remained net sellers, recording an outflow of LKR 13.7 million. The top counters for foreign outflows were HNB.X, JKH and LVEF, while MELS, Sampath Bank (SAMP) and Janashakthi Insurance (JINS) attracted the highest foreign inflows.
