The Colombo bourse, despite heavy trading in JKH, was yesterday unable to sustain Monday’s gains, with both indices down, albeit marginally – the All share by 4.83 points (0.19%) and the Milanka 13.69 points (0.39%) on a turnover of Rs.491.2 million, down from the previous day’s Rs.3.1 billion.

JKH saw nearly 1.6 million shares traded between Rs.129 and Rs.129.25 on the floor losing 50 cents on the VWA to close at Rs.129. But brokers said that the bulk of the shares were crossed at a Rs.127 price off the floor.

The Rs.3 billion turnover the previous day was largely due to heavy trades in Ceylon Tea Services (CTS) and JKH with the dominant Merrill J. Fernando interest in CTS and related companies buying out the second biggest shareholder, Tea Plantation Investment Trust Plc. which held 10.7% of the company.

Brokers said that there was interest in two Confifi group companies, Riverina and Confifi Hotel Holdings, on speculation that a deal regarding the Beruwela hotel owner was in the offing.

Some months ago, the market was awash with rumours that the Confifi Hotels were up for sale and the JKH group was identified as a possible buyer. At least one other resort hotel owning company was also rumoured to be interested but no deal materialized.

Confifi Hotel saw slightly under 1 million shares traded yesterday gaining Rs.16 on the VWA to close at Rs.110 on a trading range of Rs.94 to Rs.113.50. Riverina, also a member of the Confifi group, with nearly 1.1. million shares done between Rs.47.50 and Rs.54.50 gained Rs.6.25 on the VWA to close at Rs.52.75.

Brokers noted that there was interest in these counters the previous day too.

The JKH trades accounted for Rs.204.4 million of yesterday’s turnover with 0.7 million NDB’s closing flat at Rs.162 on a trading range of Rs.160 to Rs.162 contributing Rs.120.1 million to the day’s business volume. The NDB trades were in three crossings at a Rs.162 price, brokers said.