Sri Lankan shares closed at a record high on Wednesday, helped by gains in financial and industrial stocks.

The CSE All-Share index settled 0.97% higher at 9,626.45.

Conglomerate Expolanka Holdings Plc, LOLC Development Finance Plc and Commercial Bank of Ceylon Plc were among the top boosts to the index, rising between 0.8% and 4.8%, respectively.

The equity market's turnover was about 4.11 billion rupees ($20.60 million), according to stock exchange data.

Trading volume on the exchange rose to nearly 296.7 million shares from 294 million shares in the previous session.

Sri Lankan shares edge lower on losses in financials

Foreign investors were net sellers in the equity market, offloading shares worth about 135.9 million rupees, as per exchange data.

The island nation reported 784 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 522,002, the health bureau data showed.

It reported 40 fatalities due to COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 13,142, according to the data.

About 54.70% of the country's population is fully vaccinated so far, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.