Sri Lankan shares closed out 2020 at a near five-year high, helped by gains in consumer staples and financial stocks, with the benchmark stock index gaining 10.5% for the year in its best performance since 2014.
* The CSE All Share Index ended up 0.39% at 6,774.22 on Thursday, its highest closing level since early Jan. 2016.
* Trading volume on the index rose to 187.07 million from 146.28 million on Wednesday.
* Browns Investments Plc and beverage maker Ceylon Cold Stores Plc were the biggest boosts to the index, ending up 4.9% and 2.2%, respectively.
* Foreign investors were net sellers in the equity market, offloading 110.5 million rupees ($597,297.30) worth of shares, according to exchange data.
* The Sri Lankan rupee was last quoted at 185 against the U.S. dollar as of 11:57 GMT, according to Refinitiv data. The currency is down 2.04% this year.
* Equity market turnover was about 3 billion rupees, exchange data showed.
($1 = 185.0000 Sri Lankan rupees)
(Reporting by Anuron Kumar Mitra in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber) ((AnuronKumar.Mitra@thomsonreuters.com; +91 99863 58469;))
