Sri Lankan shares end higher as consumer staples gain

Sri Lankan shares ended higher on Friday, helped by gains in consumer staples stocks.

The CSE All Share index rose 0.06% to 8,848.36.

The island nation’s president’s office on Friday said it hopes to get the International Monetary Fund programme by March and also expects to gradually reduce interest rates in line with inflation.

The index fell for the second straight week.

Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC and Hatton National Bank PLC were the biggest boosts to the index, up ~4% and 6.5% respectively, according to Refinitiv data.

The trading volume on the CSE All Share index fell to 93.3 million shares from 94.3 million in the previous session.

Sri Lankan shares end higher as financials jump

The equity market’s turnover fell to 1.28 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($3.55 million) from 2.04 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, purchasing stocks worth about 65.9 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading 1.24 billion rupees worth of shares, the data showed.