Sri Lankan stocks reversed early losses to close higher on Thursday, despite renewed political fears after the island's prime minister stepped up pressure on his rival president in a hard-hitting speech on Wednesday.
The key Colombo all-share index ended up 1.84 percent, or 20.84 points, at 1,155.11.
Total market turnover of 207.4 million rupees was led by largest-listed Sri Lanka Telecom Ltd, which saw 2.4 million shares changing hands as it rose 2.38 percent to 21.50 rupees.
Most of the 24 million rupees of foreign buying and 11 million rupees of foreign sales in the market were focused on conglomerate John Keells Holdings Ltd, which gained 3.6 percent, or 3.75 rupees, to 108 rupees.
Asian Hotels Corp Ltd surged 7.69 percent, or two rupees, to 28 rupees on 997,00 shares.
The Colombo market has been under pressure since a political feud between Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and President Chandrika Kumaratunga burst into the open in November, delaying efforts to restart a peace process with Tamil Tiger rebels.
Wickremesinghe renewed calls for Kumaratunga to take over the peace process at a public rally on Wednesday.
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