Sri Lankan shares close higher on IT and real estate gains

Sri Lankan shares closed higher on Thursday, helped by gains in IT and real estate stocks.

The CSE All-Share index settled up 0.24% at 21,199.37.

SMB Finance PLC and Carson Cumberbatch PLC were the top percentage gainers on the CSE All-Share index, gaining 33.3% and 8.6%, respectively.

Trading volume on the index fell to 37.7 million shares from 91.1 million rupees in the previous session.

The equity market’s turnover fell to 1.08 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($3.22 million) from 3.53 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net sellers, offloading stocks worth 313.5 million rupees, while domestic investors were net buyers, purchasing shares worth 953.2 million rupees, the data showed.