Communications stocks lift Sri Lankan shares higher

Sri Lankan shares closed higher on Thursday, led by communications stocks.

The CSE All-Share index settled 0.56% higher at 22,157.40 points.

Sri Lanka Telecom PLC and Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka were among the biggest boosts to the index, up 8.1% and 1.1%, respectively, on the day.

Trading volume on the index fell to 87.1 million shares from 171.8 million shares in the previous session.

The equity market’s turnover dipped to 2.98 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($8.97 million) from 4.82 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net sellers, offloading stocks worth 179.3 million rupees, while domestic investors were net buyers, purchasing shares worth 2.91 billion rupees, the data showed.