Sri Lankan shares rise on gains in communication, IT stocks

According to Business Recorder, the Sri Lankan equity market ended Friday in positive territory, helped mainly by communication services and information technology counters. It marked a second week of gains after five consecutive weeks of decline. The CSE All-Share index advanced 0.39 per cent to finish at 21,623.17, adding 1.1 per cent over the week.

Industrial Asphalts (Ceylon) PLC and Softlogic Capital PLC posted the largest percentage gains on the CSE All-Share index. Turnover slipped to 2.24 billion Sri Lankan rupees, or $6.7 million, compared with 2.78 billion rupees previously, exchange data showed. The index recorded 76 million shares traded, down from 76.7 million.

Foreign participants were on the selling side, with net disposals of 723.7 million Sri Lankan rupees. Local investors, by contrast, bought a net 2.21 billion rupees of equities.