Sri Lankan shares rise as financials, industrials gain

Jan 13 (Reuters) – Sri Lankan shares extended gains to a second session on Thursday, closing more than 1% higher as financial and industrial stocks advanced.

* At the close of trade, the CSE All-Share index (.CSE) was up 1.64% at 13,338.49 points.

* Conglomerate LOLC Holdings (LOLC.CM) and logistics firm Expolanka Holdings (EXPO.CM) were among the top boosts to the index, climbing 5.6% and 1.7% respectively.

* Foreign investors were net sellers in the equity market, offloading shares worth 340.9 million rupees ($1.68 million), while domestic investors were net buyers of shares worth 6.92 billion rupees, exchange data showed.

* The equity market’s turnover was 7.07 billion rupees.

* Trading volume fell to 252.6 million shares from 317.3 million shares in the previous session.

* The South Asian country is facing its worst financial crisis in decades with foreign exchange reserves shrinking.

* Sri Lanka has to also repay about $4.5 billion in debt this year, with a $500 million International Sovereign Bond maturing next week.

* The governor of Sri Lanka’s central bank confirmed in a tweet after market close that the Indian central bank would offer a $400 million forex swap line.

* Meanwhile, data from the country’s health bureau showed Sri Lanka had a total of 593,725 coronavirus cases and 15,163 deaths, as of Wednesday.

* About 63.58% of Sri Lanka’s population has been fully vaccinated, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

* For a report on global markets, click

($1 = 202.7500 Sri Lankan rupees)

Reporting by Rama Venkat in Bengaluru;
Editing by Vinay Dwivedi

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