Shares extend record run as financials surge

REUTERS: Sri Lankan shares recorded their fourth straight session of all-time highs yesterday, lifted by a rally in financial and industrial stocks.

The CSE All-Share index (.CSE) climbed 2.2 percent to 13,076.91, also registering its sixth consecutive session of gains. The index has gained 7 percent already in 2022 after an 80 percent surge last year.

Sri Lankan stocks are steaming ahead even as broader equities weakened with higher U.S. Treasury yields hurting technology stocks.

Aiding sentiment in Colombo was an announcement by the Central Bank chief that Sri Lanka has allocated US $ 500 million to repay an international sovereign bond maturing on January 18. 

The country has to repay about US $ 4.5 billion in 2022.
Conglomerate LOLC Holdings (LOLC.CM) was the biggest boost to the index, rising 11 percent, while logistics firm Expolanka Holdings (EXPO.CM) climbed 3.6 percent.

The equity market’s turnover was Rs.15.56 billion (US $ 77.41 million) yesterday, according to stock exchange data.

Trading volume rose to 951.7 million shares from 806.4 million shares in the previous session.

Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, acquiring shares worth Rs.295 million, exchange data showed. Sri Lanka has reported 588,929 coronavirus cases and 15,055 deaths, as of Tuesday, data from the country’s health bureau showed. 

About 63.52 percent of Sri Lanka’s population has been fully vaccinated, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.