Friday 18 December 2015

Sri Lankan shares up led by blue-chips; turnover subdued

Reuters: Sri Lankan shares ended firmer for a fourth straight session on Friday at a more-than-two-week high led by blue chips, despite some selling by foreign investors.

The turnover was subdued as many investors and stockbrokers were on holidays ahead of Christmas next week.

The main stock index ended up 0.36 percent at 6,884.69, the highest close since Dec. 1.

Foreign investors sold a net 99.1 million rupees ($690,352) worth of equities on Friday, extending the net outflow to 4.17 billion rupees so far this year.

Turnover stood at 696.8 million rupees ($4.85 million), just above half of this year's daily average of 1.1 billion rupees.

The market is expected to be lacklustre with low turnover due to year-end holidays starting next week, stockbrokers said. Markets will be closed on both Thursday and Friday.

Top conglomerate and market heavyweight John Keells Holdings and fixed-line phone operator Sri Lanka Telecom gained over 2 percent each, helping the overall index gain. 

($1 = 143.5500 Sri Lankan rupees) 

(Reporting by Shihar Aneez; Editing by Sunil Nair)

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