Sri Lanka’s stock market extended gains to a second session and rose over 2% on Monday, driven by financial and industrial stocks, at a time the island nation battles a devastating economic crisis.
The CSE All-Share index closed 2.53% higher at 8,474.49. Last week, the index added 2.1%, although it is down roughly 31% so far this year.
Tourism-dependent Sri Lanka is facing a dire shortage of foreign exchange, fuel and medicines, and economic activity has slowed to a crawl.
Sri Lanka’s consumer prices rose 10.2% month-on-month in April, Statistics department data showed on Monday.
Thousands of people queued for cooking gas and petrol in Sri Lanka’s commercial capital on Friday and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe warned of a food shortage.
Sri Lanka shares end higher on boost from industrial sector
The country also appointed nine new cabinet members on Friday, including ministers for critical portfolios of health, trade and tourism.
Last week Fitch downgraded Sri Lanka’s rating to ‘restricted default’ after the grace period expired on coupon payments that were due on April 18 on two international sovereign bonds.
Sri Lanka which imports more than 80% of its medical supplies is also facing a shortage of medicines which doctors say could cause deaths soon.
The equity market turnover was 2.73 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($7.69 million) on Monday.
Trading volume rose to 153.3 million shares from 65.13 million shares in the previous session.
Foreign investors were net sellers in the equity market, offloading shares worth 68.5 million rupees, while domestic investors were net buyers with 2.69 billion rupees worth of shares bought, according to exchange data.
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