Sri Lankan shares closed sharply higher on Thursday, lifted by strong gains in heavyweight industrial and financial stocks.

The CSE All-Share index settled 3.34% higher at 9,148.55, exchange data showed.

The index is still down around 25% this year as the island nation battles its worst economic crisis in more than seven decades.

Conglomerate Expolanka Holdings Plc and LOLC Finance Plc were the top boosts to the index, rising 8.2% and 12.7%, respectively.

Trading volume on the CSE All-Share index rose to 75.8 million shares on Thursday, from 66.5 million shares in the previous session.

Sri Lankan shares slide for third day as Expolanka tumbles

Equity market turnover was 2.57 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($7.10 million), according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, purchasing 278.7 million rupees of shares, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading stocks worth 2.55 billion rupees, data showed.