Sri Lankan shares gain for 11th session as financials, consumer staples rise

Sri Lankan shares closed higher on Tuesday for an eleventh straight session, helped by gains in financial and consumer staples stocks.

* The benchmark stock index gained more than 1% for a second consecutive session, ending up 1.09% at 7,282.24, its highest closing level since September 2015.

* Trading volume on the CSE All Share Index rose to 544.96 million from 504.31 million in the previous session.

* Conglomerate Expolanka Holdings Plc and Commercial Leasing & Finance Plc were the top boosts to the index, gaining 10.6% and 24.4%, respectively.

* Foreign investors were net sellers, offloading 221 million rupees ($1.17 million) worth of shares, according to exchange data.

* The Sri Lankan rupee was quoted at 189 against the U.S. dollar as of 11:32 GMT, 0.53% weaker for the day compared to last session's close of 188, according to Refinitiv data.

* Equity market turnover was 8.59 billion rupees, exchange data showed.

($1 = 189.0000 Sri Lankan rupees)

(Reporting by Anuron Kumar Mitra in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi) ((AnuronKumar.Mitra@thomsonreuters.com; +91 99863 58469;))