Sri Lankan shares end higher as consumer staples, financials gain

BENGALURU: Sri Lankan shares closed higher on Wednesday, aided by gains in consumer staples and financial stocks.

• The CSE All Share index settled up 0.78% at 11,335.61, and registered a gain of 0.7% in a truncated week, snapping two weekly losses.

• Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka and C T Holdings were the top gainers on the CSE All Share, rising 4.48% and 7.57%, respectively.

• The Sri Lankan stock market will be closed on Thursday and Friday for holidays.

• The country’s key inflation rate eased to 1.3% in September from 4% a month ago, data from the statistics department showed on Wednesday after trading ended.

Sri Lanka shares end higher as consumer staples rise

• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday said it did not reach a staff-level agreement with the island nation, in its first review under a $2.9 billion bailout package, due to a potential shortfall in government revenue generation.

• Trading volume on the CSE All Share index jumped to 76.6million shares from 29.3 million shares in the previous session.

• The equity market’s turnover rose to 1.39 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($4.3 million) from 943 million rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

• Foreign investors were net buyers, purchasing stocks worth 171.1 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading shares worth 1.23 billion rupees, the data showed.