Sri Lankan stocks closed slightly up Wednesday, dragged higher by Sri Lanka Telecom - the country's biggest stock - but political concerns still overshadow the market, dealers said.
Uncertainty over a political fight between President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has weighed on the market since the president took over three cabinet ministries in early November.
The move knocked 25 percent off the value of the market, although it still finished up 30 percent for the year.
On Wednesday, the key Colombo all-share index closed up a provisional 0.45 percent, or 5.23 points, at 1,178.44.
Sri Lanka Telecom, which has a monopoly on fixed lines, added 0.25 rupees, or 1.18 percent, to close at 21.50 rupees.
Turnover totalled nearly 260 million rupees, but foreign buying was just 11 million.
The divide between the president and prime minister sharpened on Tuesday night when Kumaratunga went on television and said her term in office ended in 2006, and not in 2005 as earlier thought.
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