Sri Lanka shares gain for third straight week, shake off Trump’s 30% tariff

Sri Lankan shares logged their third straight week of advances on Friday, shrugging off news that U.S. President Donald Trump’s 30% tariff is set to come into effect on August 1 and buoyed by hopes that trade talks between the nations would continue.

The CSE All Share index settled up 2.09% at 18541.26, helped by gains across the board. Trading resumed on Friday after a local holiday on Thursday.

On Thursday, Sri Lanka’s finance secretary said representatives of the island country will continue discussions with Washington, hours after Trump slapped a 30% tariff on the country - lower than 44% imposed earlier.

Industrial Asphalts Ceylon and Sathosa Motors were the top two percentage gainers on the CSE All-Share on Friday, rising 33.33% and 24.98% respectively.

Trading volume on the CSE All-Share index climbed to 304.2 million shares from 176.6 million in the previous session.

Real estate, consumer discretionary stocks lift Sri Lanka shares

The equity market’s turnover jumped to 10.23 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($33.92 million) from 5.98 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net sellers, offloading stocks worth 1.32 billion rupees, while domestic investors were net buyers, purchasing shares worth 10.13 billion rupees, the data showed.