Nuwara Eliya Hotels Co and Ceylinco Holdings top gainers

Sri Lanka shares closed slightly higher on Friday, on gains in consumer discretionary stocks and staples gains.

* The CSE All-Share index settled 0.81% higher at 15,742.04 points.

* The Nuwara Eliya Hotels Company and Ceylinco Holdings were the top gainers by index points, up 159.5 points and 143 points, respectively, on the day.

* Trading volume on the index rose to 125.53 million shares from 54.75 million in the previous session.

* According to exchange data, the equity market’s turnover rose to 2.43 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($8.1 million) from 1.47 billion rupees in the previous session.

* Foreign investors were net sellers, offloading stocks worth 217.87 million rupees, while domestic investors were net buyers, purchasing shares worth 2.32 billion rupees, the data showed.