Sri Lankan shares rise as president reappoints prime minister, keeps finance minister role

Sri Lankan shares closed higher for a seventh straight session on Monday after President Anura Kumara Dissanayake retained the key finance minister portfolio and reappointed Harini Amarasuriya as prime minister.

The CSE All-Share index settled 0.24% higher at 13,231.01. It gained 3.1% last week.

Dissanayake’s leftist coalition won a record 159 parliamentary seats in elections last week as the island nation targets stronger recovery from a draining financial crisis.

On the CSE All-Share index, Nation Lanka Finance and Industrial Asphalts were the top percent gainers, rising 50% and 33.33%, respectively.

Sri Lankan shares end higher as IT, consumer discretionary stocks gain

Trading volume on the index rose to 223.5 million shares from 156.7 million shares in the previous session.

The equity market’s turnover grew to 5.55 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($19.1 million) from 3.79 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net sellers, offloading stocks worth 992.2 million rupees, while domestic investors were net buyers, purchasing shares worth 5.32 billion rupees, the data showed.