Sri Lankan shares recorded their fourth straight session of all-time highs on Wednesday, lifted by a rally in financial and industrial stocks.
* The CSE All-Share index climbed 2.2% to 13,076.91, also registering its sixth consecutive session of gains. The index has gained 7% already in 2022 after an 80% surge last year.
* Sri Lankan stocks are steaming ahead even as broader equities weakened with higher U.S. Treasury yields hurting technology stocks.
* Aiding sentiment in Colombo was an announcement by the central bank chief that Sri Lanka has allocated $500 million to repay an international sovereign bond maturing on Jan. 18. The country has to repay about $4.5 billion in 2022.
* Conglomerate LOLC Holdings was the biggest boost to the index, rising 11%, while logistics firm Expolanka Holdings climbed 3.6%.
* The equity market's turnover was 15.56 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($77.41 million) on Wednesday, according to stock exchange data.
* Trading volume rose to 951.7 million shares from 806.4 million shares in the previous session.
* Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, acquiring shares worth 295 million rupees, exchange data showed.
* Sri Lanka has reported 588,929 coronavirus cases and 15,055 deaths, as of Tuesday, data from the country's health bureau showed.
* About 63.52% of Sri Lanka's population has been fully vaccinated, according to data from Johns Hopkins University https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/sri-lanka.
($1 = 201.0000 Sri Lankan rupees)
(Reporting by Chris Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli) ((chris.thomas@thomsonreuters.com; +91-80-6749-8695;))
