There was frenzied trading in the Lanka IOC (LIOC) share which made its debut on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) yesterday with the share opening at Rs.54 – double the Rs.27 issue price – and closing at Rs.47 with the bourse posting a turnover of over Rs.1 billion.

On top of that, the All Share Price Index (ASPI) hit a record 1578.28 points at the close of trading surpassing its previous high of 1,560.9 recorded on Oct. 22 this year.

"I would reckon that around Rs.850 million of the turnover was accounted by transactions in LIOC,’’ one broker said. Over 18.2 million shares of the counter were transacted yesterday.

He said that while there was little foreign selling in the counter, the bulk of the trades were by retailers with most selling out.

Some punters who bought high when the share opened for the day later sold out at a loss, brokers said.

``Short term punters have sold out,’’ one broker said. He felt that the share would settle around Rs. 50. Another guessed Rs. 45 to 50 saying ``that’s where it’s going to hover around.’’

The CSE said in a news release that the ASPI was up 516.2 points (48.6%) so far this year making Colombo "one of the best performing stock markets in the world.’’

The LIOC share was listed on the main board of the Exchange in the Power & Energy sector. It opened trading at Rs.54 and closed the day at Rs.46.50.

CSE said that the share traded between Rs.54.25 and Rs.45.25 during the day.

Yesterday’s introduction of the LIOC on the Main Board of the CSE enabled the Exchange’s market capitalisation to surpass Rs.400 billion for the first time in its history with marketcap moving up by Rs.24.5 points (6.5%) on from Rs.376.4 billion to Rs.,400,8 billion during he day.

CSE said that the LIOC trade accounted for 85% of the day’s total turnover.

It also said that it’s upgraded Automated Trading System (ATS) accommodates a larger volume of trading and the commissioning of this new version facilitated the smooth trading of LIOC on the opening day when a total of 8,154 trades were executed.

The LIOC IPO which opened on Nov. 29 closed the same day oversubscribed 11.7 times and was the largest IPO in the history of the Exchange.