The market closed flat on Monday. However the indices recorded encouraging gains on Tuesday while remaining largely stable during the rest of the week, as the 2Q earnings season neared its conclusion.

Retail investor interest on selected mid cap stocks coupled with interest on selected blue-chip stocks such as JKH and Commercial Bank were the key drivers of market activity this week.

The ASPI (All Share Price Index) gained 21.7 points or 0.9% this week, to close at 2,522.9 points while the MPI (Milanka Price Index) saw an improvement of 34.4 points or 1.2% to close the week at 2,851.0 points.

Market heavy weight JKH took the top slot in terms of contribution towards total turnover for this week. JKH managed a turnover contribution of Rs.497.9 million or 26.3% of the weekly turnover on a total volume of 3.7 million shares. The share price rose by 2.9% during the week to close at Rs.134.00 per share. During the week the counter peaked at a high of Rs.137.00 per share, while trading at a low of Rs.130.00 per share.

Also trading sizeable volumes and becoming the second highest traded stock for the week was Environmental Resources (GREG), trading approximately 3.9 million shares during the week amidst GREG warrants coming to the market on Thursday. The counter injected Rs.136.6 million to the week’s turnover on the back of heavy retail interest. However the share price of GREG edged down WoW (Week on Week) to close Rs.0.75 or 1.9% lower at Rs.38.00 for the week.

Among the banking stocks to generate the largest portion of turnover was Commercial Bank (COMB) with Rs.128.2 million of turnover generated on a volume of 0.9 million shares, with the biggest part of Rs.70.7 million coming on Tuesday. COMB’s share price showed a 1.6% improvement compared to last week, to close on Friday at Rs.145.75 per share.

Sampath was the other banking counter to emerge among the top five contributors with a turnover of Rs.50.4 million. However Sampath during the week closed unchanged at Rs.137.00 per share.

Total turnover this week amounted to Rs.1.9 billion, with average daily turnover standing at Rs.378.0 million, showing a WoW increase of 11.5%.

Foreign investors were net sellers this week, totaling Rs.78.7 million for the week. However foreign purchases and foreign sales were slightly higher this week, resulting in foreign participation standing at 28.5% of total activity compared to 23.3% last week. Foreign purchases stood at Rs.499.8 million, up by 10.1% compared to last week, while the foreign sales amounted to Rs.578.5 million increasing by 72.8% a week earlier.