Sri Lanka shares end higher as consumer staples, financials gain

Sri Lankan closed higher on Wednesday, helped by gains in consumer staples and financial stocks.

** The benchmark Sri Lankan stock index closed up 0.87% at 5936.30 points.

** Shares of Ceylon Tobacco rose 1.85% and was the biggest boost on the index.

** Foreign investors were net sellers in the equity market, selling 726.1 million Sri Lankan rupees ($4.00 million) worth of shares.

** The Sri Lankan rupee was last quoted at 181.4 against the U.S. dollar as of 12:31 GMT, up 0.03% from the previous session's close of 181.45, according to Refinitiv data.

** Equity market turnover was 1.12 billion Sri Lankan rupees, stock exchange data showed.

($1 = 181.3500 Sri Lankan rupees)

(Reporting by Philip George in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel) ((P.George@thomsonreuters.com; +91 8061822657; Reuters Messaging: p.george@thomsonreuters.net))