Sri Lankan shares closed higher on Thursday, boosted by gains in industrials and consumer staples stocks.

The CSE All-Share index settled up 0.54% at 8,140.76.

Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka and conglomerate Melstacorp Plc were among the top boosts to the index, adding 3.1% and 3.5%, respectively.

The island nation reported 1,940 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, bringing its total confirmed cases to 301,832, while deaths rose by 63 to a total of 4,258.

Sri Lankan shares end flat as financials offset gains in industrial stocks

Data from Johns Hopkins showed the country had fully vaccinated about 8.65% of its population so far.

Trading volume on the exchange rose to 142.3 million shares from 75.1 million shares in the previous session.

Foreign investors were net sellers in the equity market, offloading shares worth 213.6 million rupees ($1.07 million), exchange data showed.

The equity market's turnover was 2.49 billion rupees, the exchange data further showed.