Sri Lankan shares notch fourth straight weekly gain

Sri Lankan shares logged their fourth straight week of gains on Friday, as gains in health care and consumer discretionary stocks overpowered losses in utilities.

The CSE All Share index settled up 0.51% at 18,973.7. It gained 2.3% during the week.

Industrial Asphalts (Ceylon) PLC and Royal Palms Beach Hotels PLC were the top percentage gainers on the CSE All Share index, rising 33.3% and 24.8%, respectively.

Trading volume on the CSE All Share index fell to 350.1 million shares from 358.1 million in the previous session.

Broad-based gains lift Sri Lankan shares

The equity market’s turnover rose to 7.6 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($25.21 million) from 6.21 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net buyers, purchasing stocks worth 1.99 billion rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading shares worth 5.98 billion rupees, the data showed.