Financials, industrials boost Sri Lanka stocks

Sri Lankan shares closed higher for a second consecutive day on Wednesday, helped by gains in financials, industrials and consumer staples stocks.

The CSE All-Share Index rose 0.26% to end at 7,161.77. It has climbed 5.72% this year.

Conglomerate John Keells Holding and food retailer Cargills (Ceylon) Plc were among the top boosts to the index, gaining 1.30% and 3.77%, respectively.

Separately, Sri Lanka, which is battling a third wave of the coronavirus infections, said it had imposed an island-wide total lockdown from Thursday night to Monday morning.

Sri Lanka is now reporting more than 1,900 new infections each day. The South Asian island nation last month had imposed curbs on public gatherings.

The country has so far reported 128,530 infections and 827 coronavirus-related deaths.

Trading volumes rose to 94.6 million from 84.3 million in the previous session.

Foreign investors were net sellers in the equity market, offloading shares worth 312.3 million Sri Lankan rupees ($1.60 million), according to exchange data.

Equity market turnover was 1.59 billion rupees, exchange data showed.

The Sri Lankan rupee was quoted at 195.50 against the US dollar, as of 1155 GMT, according to Refinitiv data.