Sri Lankan shares closed higher on Thursday amid hopes that a debt deal with creditors could help the island nation clear an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout review.

* The CSE All Share index settled up 0.77% at 10,593.90.

* Sri Lanka's pact with creditor nations to restructure its debt prepares the way for the IMF to consider clearing the first review of a bailout next month, the global lender said on Thursday.

* Separately, data released after market hours showed Sri Lanka's key inflation rate accelerated to 3.4% in November from 1.5% in the previous month.

* John Keells Holdings and LOLC Holdings were the top gainers on the CSE, rising 3.08% and 1.34%, respectively.

* Trading volume on the index rose to 57.8 million shares from 36.4 million shares in the previous session.

* The equity market's turnover rose to 1.91 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($5.8 million) from 735.6 million rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

* Foreign investors were net buyers, purchasing stocks worth 720.9 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading shares worth 1.57 billion rupees, the data showed.

* For a report on global markets, click ($1 = 327.0000 Sri Lankan rupees) (Reporting by Ashish Chandra in Bengaluru; Editing by Varun H K)