Sri Lankan shares closed higher on Friday, logging their best week since early September, supported by gains in industrial and financial stocks.

Sri Lankan shares fall nearly 2% after central bank holds rates

• The CSE All-Share index rose nearly 1.5% to close at 8,148.1. For the week, the index saw gains of 4.2%, first weekly gain in four weeks.

• Conglomerate Expolanka Holdings and LOLC Holdings were the biggest boosts to the CSE All-Share index, rising 18.7% and 7.7%, respectively.

• Trading volume rose to 43.6 million shares from 32.9 million in the previous session.

• The equity market’s turnover rose to 1.6 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($4.40 million), compared with 1.45 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

• Foreign investors were net sellers in the equity market, selling stocks worth 77.8 million rupees, while domestic investors were net buyers, offloading shares worth 1.56 billion rupees, data showed.