Sri Lankan shares close higher as financials climb

Sri Lankan shares ended higher on Wednesday, helped by gains in financial stocks.

The CSE All-Share index rose 0.13% to 8,987.45.

Sri Lanka’s economy is expected to grow again from the end of this year and the government hopes to extricate the country from its economic crisis by 2026, President Ranil Wickremesinghe said.

The island nation has been struggling with its worst economic turmoil since independence from Britain in 1948, which has forced it to default on loans and seek a $2.9 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

Sri Lanka is currently focused on getting financing assurances from key bilateral creditors China and Japan.

India, the third major creditor to Sri Lanka, agreed to support the country’s debt restructuring last month.

LOLC Holdings and Sri Lanka Telecom were the biggest boosts to the index, up 3,6% and 2.6%, respectively, according to Refinitiv data.

Sri Lankan shares ended lower as financials, communication services weigh

The trading volume on the CSE All-Share index fell to 43.2 million shares from 56.2 million in the previous session.

The equity market’s turnover fell to 1.19 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($3.28 million)from 2.22 billion rupees on Monday, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, purchasing stocks worth 308 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading 1.17 billion rupees worth of shares, the data showed.