Sri Lankan stocks ended slightly firmer on Monday at a more than one-week high, led by large-caps such as Ceylon Tobacco Co Plc due to foreign inflows, but political uncertainty capped the gains, dealers said. The main stock index rose 0.16 percent, or 11.40 points, to 7,326.31, its highest close since February 13. Shares in Ceylon Tobacco Co Plc rose 2.32 percent.
Turnover was 1.01 billion rupees ($7.6 million), well below this year's daily average of 1.43 billion rupees. "Investors still don't have 100 percent confidence because of political uncertainty and buying is very low despite billion-rupee turnover today." Parliamentary election is expected after April 23 and there is still uncertainty around whether new President Maithripala Sirisena's coalition would contest together or separately.
Foreign investors were net buyers of 98.3 million rupees worth of shares on Monday, ending three straight sessions of net outflows and extending the year-to-date net foreign inflows to 1.36 billion rupees. The bourse saw net foreign inflows of 22.07 billion rupees in 2014.
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