The Colombo bourse lost ground yesterday with the All Share Price Index down 18.17 points (0.96%) while the Milanka shed 39.27 points (1.91%) on a turnover of Rs.138.9 million, down from the previous day’s Rs.171.9 million with interest continuing to be focused on JKH and NDB.

"Much of yesterday’s activity was concentrated on JKH where over 0.4 million shares were done between Rs.76 and Rs.77, down 75 cents to close at Rs.76, and NDB which closed flat at Rs.92.75 on 0.2 million shares that were traded," Prashan Fernando of Acuity Stockbrokers said.

JKH saw a parcel of 250,000 shares crossed at Rs.76 and a second large parcel done on the trading floor at Rs.76. There was also retail and high net worth activity in the stock, brokers said.

NDB which traded between Rs.92.75 and Rs.93 saw one big parcel of 25,000 shares and several of 10,000 shares among the quantity traded.

The DFCC Bank lost Rs.2 to close at Rs.90 on a trading range of Rs.89.50 to Rs.92 on over 0.1 million shares done while NTB which posted a good first quarter a few days ago gained 25 cents to close at Rs.31 on 0.3 million shares done between Rs.30.25 and Rs.31.

Yesterday’s announcement on the three-week suspension of Janashakthi Insurance by the insurance regulator saw many retailers becoming jittery and nearly 0.8 million shares of the company were done through a large number of trades.

Most of them were in the hundreds and lower thousands although there were some parcels of 10,000 and 20,000 too among the trades. The counter lost one rupee to close at Rs.7 on a trading range of Rs.6.50 to Rs.7.25.

Janashakthi has appealed against the regulator’s ruling. Analysts pointed out that the statement by the Insurance Board of Sri Lanka (IBSL) on the suspension left room for a shorter business halt.

Eagle Insurance said in a Stock Exchange filing yesterday that it was selling control of its fully owned fund management company, Eagle NDB Fund Management Company at a price of Rs.29.55 to the Capital Development and Investment Company PLC (CDIC), an almost wholly owned subsidiary of the NDB Bank.

The deal was worth Rs.147.8 million.

Eagle Insurance is controlled by Aviva, the world’s fifth largest insurance group, and the NDB Bank.

Under an agreement awaiting regulatory approvals and subject to legal execution, Eagle NDB Fund Management will sell 16.15% of its equity to CDIC while Aviva NDB Finance Lanka will get the balance 83.85% transferring control of the fund management company from Aviva to the NDB Bank.