Sri Lankan stocks gained on Friday for the second straight session as investors bought banking shares, but the turnover was moderate as the market awaited cues from 2015 budget announcement. Sri Lanka in 2015 will trim its value added tax and reduce its budget deficit to the lowest level since 1977, President Mahinda Rajapaksa told parliament on Friday while presenting the 2015 budget.
Sri Lanka's main stock index rose 0.33 percent, or 23.97 points, to 7,213.48, further moving away from its lowest since September 9 hit on Tuesday. "Foreign activity picked up from yesterday with buying interest in large cap counters," said Dimantha Mathew, manager, research at First Capital Equities (Pvt) Ltd.
The day's turnover was 870.7 million rupees ($6.7 million), less than this year's daily average of 1.36 billion rupees. Foreign investors bought a net 260.7 million rupees worth of shares on Thursday, extending the year-to-date net foreign inflows to 10.56 billion rupees, exchange data showed. The gains were led by Carsons Cumberbatch Plc, which rose 1.65 percent to 443.90 rupees, while the Commercial Leasing & Finance Plc added 2.17 percent to 4.7 rupees. Nestle Lanka Plc rose 0.98 percent to 2,099 rupees.