Sri Lankan shares log second straight week of losses

Sri Lankan shares closed marginally up on Friday, but logged the second straight week of losses, as gains in health care stocks offset losses in communications services.

The CSE All-Share index settled 0.14% higher at 23801.96 points.

Health care stocks were up 1.89%; Communications Services stocks down 1.22%

ACME Printing and Packaging and Industrial Asphalts (Ceylon) were the top percentage gainers on the index, up 50% and 25%, respectively, on the day.

Trading volume on the index fell to 311.1 million shares from 441.2 million in the previous session.

The equity market’s turnover dipped to 9.09 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($29.38 million) from 11.11 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net sellers, offloading stocks worth 2.51 billion rupees, while domestic investors were net buyers, purchasing shares worth 8.88 billion rupees, the data showed.