Sri Lanka shares end higher

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan shares closed higher on Friday, aided by gains in IT and financials stocks.

The CSE All Share index settled up 1.2% at 14,205.34, closing its third-straight week of gains.

Industrial Asphalts (Ceylon) PLC and Ceylinco Holdings PLC were the top percentage gainers on the CSE All Share index, rising 33.3% and 15.8%, respectively. Trading volume on the CSE All Share index fell to 188 million shares from 282 million in the previous session.

The equity market’s turnover fell to 6.15 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($21.20 million) from 7.36 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data. Foreign investors were net buyers, purchasing stocks worth 336.8 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading shares worth 5.94 billion rupees, the data showed.