Sri Lankan shares ended higher on Thursday, helped by industrial and financial stocks.

* The CSE All-Share index was up 0.48% at 8,830.35 points.

* Conglomerate Expolanka Holdings Plc and John Keells Holdings were the top percentage gainers on the index, rising 2.7% and 2.3%, respectively.

* The equity market's turnover was about 2.02 billion rupees, according to stock exchange data.

* Trading volume on the exchange rose to 100.2 million shares from 88.7 million shares in the previous session.

* Foreign investors were net sellers in the equity market, offloading shares worth about 63.1 million rupees, as per exchange data.

* The island nation reported 1,342 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 508,672.

* It reported 92 fatalities due to COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 12,376, health bureau data showed.

* About 51.39% of the country's entire population is fully vaccinated so far, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

(Reporting by Vishwadha Chander in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber) ((Vishwadha.Chander@thomsonreuters.com; Mobile: +91 7506036802; Twitter: https://twitter.com/vishwadha;))