Sri Lankan shares close at all-time high on consumer stocks boost

Sri Lankan shares closed at a record high on Wednesday, marking a positive finish for a sixth straight session, as consumer staple stocks boosted the benchmark index.

The CSE All-Share index ended 1.01% higher at 9,433.77 points.

Conglomerates LOLC Holdings and John Keells Holdings were the top boosts to the index, rising 7.1% and 6.1%, respectively.

The equity market's turnover was about 5.96 billion rupees, according to stock exchange data.

Trading volume on the exchange fell to 238.4 million shares from 263.59 million shares in the previous session.

Sri Lankan shares see best one-day gain since March as financials surge

Foreign investors were net sellers in the equity market, offloading shares worth about 41.5 million rupees, as per exchange data.

The island nation reported 932 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 515,524.

It reported 55 fatalities due to COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 12,786, health bureau data showed.

About 53.49% of the country's entire population is fully vaccinated so far, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.