Sri Lankan shares ended higher on Monday, after hitting a more than four-month high since mid February earlier in the session, helped by gains in financial and consumer staple stocks.

* The CSE All-Share Index ended up 0.88% at 7,877.84, its biggest one-day gain since June 3. The index had risen 1.2% to hit its highest since Feb. 16 earlier in the session.

* The index recorded its fifth straight weekly gain last week.

* Lender LOLC Development Finance surged 25% to record its ninth straight session of gains and was the top boost to the index.

** LOLC Development advanced 144% last week, after gaining 121% in the prior week.

* Sri Lanka reported 253,618 total confirmed coronavirus cases as of Monday, and 2,944 deaths, according to the health ministry data.

* The island nation has fully vaccinated only 3.98% of its total population so far, Johns Hopkins showed on Monday.

* Trading volume on the exchange slightly rose to 50.8 million, from 50.1 million in the previous session.

* Foreign investors were net sellers in the equity market, offloading shares worth 41.9 million rupees, exchange data showed.

* Equity market's turnover was 1.57 billion rupees, according to exchange data.

(Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich) ((Sethuraman.NR@thomsonreuters.com; (+91 8061822737); Reuters Messaging: nallur.sethuraman.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))