Colombo stock market gains 0.5% for the week

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan shares closed lower, hurt by losses in industrial and financial stocks, although a surge in Sri Lanka Telecom Plc blunted losses, Reuters reported.

The CSE All-Share index settled 0.6% lower at 9,093.37. For the week, the index gained 0.5%, its first weekly gain in three.

The index has declined around 25% this year.

On Friday, LOLC Finance was the biggest drag on the index, dropping 3.9%.

Sri Lanka Telecom PLC soared 21.2%.

Trading volume on the CSE All-Share index rose to 117.4 million shares on Friday, from 75.8 million shares in the previous session.

Equity market turnover was 2.35 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($6.49 million), according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, purchasing 54 million rupees of shares, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading stocks worth 2.34 billion rupees, data showed.