Sri Lankan shares ended higher for a second straight session on Thursday, helped by gains in industrial and financial stocks.

* The benchmark stock index closed 1.42% higher at 7,476.34.

* Conglomerate Expolanka holdings jumped 15.1% as the top boost on the index, while Browns Investments gained 7.4%.

* Tess Agro added 40% to end the day as the top percentage gainer on the index.

* Sri Lanka's consumer prices rose 3.3% year on year in February compared with a 3% rise in January, data from the statistics department showed. 

* Trading volume on the CSE All Share Index rose to 101 million from 75.7 million in the previous session.

* Foreign investors were net sellers, offloading 854.7 million Sri Lankan rupees ($4.41 million) worth of shares, according to exchange data.

* Equity market turnover was 3.01 billion Sri Lankan rupees, data showed.

* The Sri Lankan rupee was last quoted at 194 against the U.S. dollar, as of 1109 GMT.

($1 = 194.0000 Sri Lankan rupees)

(Reporting by Philip George in Bengaluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.) ((P.george@thomsonreuters.com))