Investing.com – Sri Lanka equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Information Technology, Footwear & Textile and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Colombo, the CSE All-Share added 0.18% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CSE All-Share were Industrial Asphalts (Ceylon) PLC (CM:ASPH), which rose 23.00% or 69.00 points to trade at 369.00 at the close. Indo Malay PLC (CM:INDO) added 17.79% or 254.30 points to end at 1683.90 and Selinsing PLC (CM:SELI) was up 17.79% or 240.10 points to 1589.90 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Standard Capital PLC (CM:SING), which lost 21.11% or 19.00 points to trade at 71.00 in late trade. Kelsey Developments PLC (CM:KDL) declined 7.86% or 4.40 points to end at 51.60 and Mahaweli Reach Hotel PLC (CM:MRH) shed 7.83% or 1.80 points to 21.20.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 126 to 66 and 43 ended unchanged on the Colombo Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for September delivery was up 0.11% or 0.05 to $44.80 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in September rose 0.37% or 0.17 to hit $46.37 a barrel, while the August Gold contract fell 0.47% or 6.20 to trade at $1324.80 a troy ounce.
GBP/LKR was up 0.18% to 193.210, while USD/LKR fell 0.08% to 146.015.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.23% at 97.16.