Sri Lankan shares post weekly fall as virus takes toll

Sri Lankan shares edged up on Friday as financial stocks gained, but closed the week lower as the country posted a record single-day death toll due to COVID-19.

The CSE All-Share index ended 0.19% higher at 7,996.04. The index notched its third straight week of losses, falling 1.27%.

Investment holding company Ambeon Capital Plc and Commercial Leasing & Finance Plc were the top boosts to the index, rising 24.7% and 5.1%, respectively.

The island-nation reported 156 deaths due to COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the highest single-day death toll so far, bringing the total number of fatalities to 5,620.

Sri Lankan shares slump as country sees highest single-day COVID-19 death toll

Cases rose by 3,039 in the last 24 hours, bringing the total confirmed cases to 345,118.

Data from Johns Hopkins university showed the country had fully vaccinated about 17.32% of its population so far.

Sri Lanka's June trade deficit widened year-over-year to $652 mln, while both imports and exports rose 57.2% and 12.6% respectively, data from the central bank showed.

Trading volume on the exchange fell to 162.7 million, from 208.4 million in the previous session.

Foreign investors were net sellers in the equity market, offloading shares worth 42.8 million rupees ($214,536.34), exchange data showed.

The equity market's turnover was 2.32 billion rupees, according to the exchange data.