Sri Lankan shares bounced back to close at a record high on Wednesday, led by gains in financial and industrials stocks as the nation prepares for a vaccination drive against COVID-19.
* The benchmark stock index ended 1.69% higher at 8,812.01 - a record closing high - having slipped 0.33% in the previous session. The index is up 30% so far in 2021.
* Sri Lanka will buy 2-3 million doses of the Oxford University/AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum Institute of India in the next two days, a government adviser said on Wednesday.
* The country's vaccination programme is set to begin on Friday, according to reports.
* Trading volume on the CSE All Share Index fell to 497.4 million from 828.7 million in the previous session.
* Conglomerates LOLC and Vallibel One were the top boosts to the benchmark, gaining 25% each.
* Foreign investors were net sellers, offloading 1.56 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($8.1 million) worth of shares, according to exchange data.
* The Sri Lankan rupee was quoted at 192.25 against the dollar as of 1220 GMT, 1.4% stronger for the day compared with the previous close of 195.00, according to Refinitiv data.
* Equity market turnover was 14.41 billion rupees, exchange data showed.
($1 = 192.2500 Sri Lankan rupees)
(Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber) ((saisachin.r@tr.com; +91 80 6182 2754; Twitter: @sachinr27;))
