Shares see best one-day gain since March as financials surge

REUTERS: Sri Lankan shares closed over 3 percent higher yesterday, notching their biggest intraday gain since March, boosted by financial and industrial stocks.

The CSE All-Share index closed 3.69 percent higher at 9,269.65 points.

Commercial Leasing and Finance and conglomerate Expolanka Holdings PLC were the top boosts to the index, rising 49.75 percent and 9.1 percent, respectively.

Sri Lanka Central Bank said  yesterday the country’s merchandise export sector has shown a notable improvement in 2021 compared with the pandemic-affected 2020.

Export earnings have averaged US $ 985 million during the eight months ending August 2021, compared with a monthly average of US $ 837 million in 2020, the apex bank said.

The equity market’s turnover was about Rs.6.77 billion, according to stock exchange data.

Trading volume on the exchange rose to 202.76 million shares, from 135.2 million shares in the previous session.
Foreign investors were net sellers in the equity market, offloading shares worth about Rs.764.47 million, as per exchange data.

The island nation reported 1,078 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 513,609, as of September 26.

It reported 71 fatalities due to COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 12,680, health bureau data showed.

About 53.18 percent of the country’s entire population is fully vaccinated so far, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.