Sri Lankan shares extended sharp gains for a second straight session on Thursday, as beaten down heavyweight industrial and financial stocks surged.

 

* The CSE All-Share index closed 4.55% higher at 7,611.43. It has added more than 10% in the last two sessions after a five-day rout, but is still down nearly 38% this year.

* The World Bank has promised financial aid to help Sri Lanka overcome its economic crisis, while the island nation has also appealed to multiple countries and multilateral organisations for bridge financing until it gets aid from the International Monetary Fund, with whom Sri Lanka kicked off talks earlier this month.

* The stock market took a beating earlier this week as it reopened following a two-week hiatus after the central bank hiked interest rates by 700 basis points to counter soaring inflation.

* Heavyweights LOLC Holdings and Expolanka Holdings soared 28.4% and 22.4%, respectively, after leading losses in the recent rout.

* The equity market turnover was 2.98 billion rupees ($8.51 million), compared with 2.18 billion rupees in the previous session.

* Trading volume slipped to 140.2 million shares from 144.7 million shares on Wednesday.

* Foreign investors were net sellers in the equity market, dumping shares worth 108 million rupees, while domestic investors were net buyers, purchasing 2.88 billion rupees worth of shares, exchange data showed.

* For a report on global markets, click ($1 = 350.0000 Sri Lankan rupees) (Reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)