Shares post best quarterly show in 11 years

REUTERS: Sri Lankan shares recorded their best quarter since September 2010, with the main index closing at a record high yesterday, as massive liquidity due to the low interestrate environment and strong retail participation boosted stocks.

The CSE All-share index ended 0.28 percent higher at 9,459.94 points. The index rose 20.7 percent for the quarter and 5.14 percent for the month.

Conglomerates Expolanka Holdings Plc and John Keells Holdings were the top boosts to the index, rising 2.6 percent and 3.75 percent respectively.

Sri Lanka’s consumer prices rose 0.4 percent month-on-month in September, after 0.3 percent rise in August, according to the country’s statistics department.

The equity market’s turnover was about Rs.6.94 billion, according to stock exchange data.

Trading volume on the exchange rose to 284.5 million shares from 238.4 million shares in the previous session.

Foreign investors were net sellers in the equity market, offloading shares worth about Rs.577.2 million, as per exchange data.

The island nation reported 941 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 516,465.

It reported 61 fatalities due to COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 12,847, health bureau data showed. About 53.67 percent of the country’s entire population is fully vaccinated so far, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.