Shares rebound after Friday’s selloff

REUTERS: Sri Lankan shares rose yesterday, after falling more than 2 percent in the previous session, helped by heavyweight industrial stocks.

The CSE All-Share index rose 0.42 percent to close at 11,034.41. The index had tumbled 2.35 percent on Friday as sentiment took a hit after the discovery of the first Omicron variant patient in the country.

Conglomerates Expolanka Holdings and LOLC Holdings were the top boosts to the index, gaining 6.2 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.

The equity market’s turnover was Rs.6.74 billion (US $ 33.28 million), according to stock exchange data.
Trading volume fell to about 253 million shares from 305.8 million shares in the previous session.

Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, acquiring shares worth about Rs.60.4 million, as per exchange data.

Sri Lanka’s top Central Bank official on Saturday said remittances have declined over the past six months, prompting authorities to examine if the sudden drop in foreign cash inflow was linked to the use of any illegal channels for transactions.  

The island-nation reported 746 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 567,682, while deaths rose by 21 and the total death toll reached 14,461, data from the country’s health bureau showed.
About 63.13 percent of the country’s population has been fully vaccinated so far, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.