Sri Lankan shares ended higher for an eighth straight session on Thursday, helped mainly by a surge in financial stocks.

The benchmark CSE All Share Index closed up 1.31% at 5,658.66. The index has gained 6.4% in eight sessions.

Shares of Ceylinco Insurance Plc and lender Commercial Bank of Ceylon Plc rose 17.1% and 3.8%, respectively, and were the top boosts to the index.

Trading volume on the CSE All Share Index fell to 146.2 million from 185.1 million in the previous session.

Foreign investors were net sellers, offloading about 335 million Sri Lankan rupees ($1.81 million) worth of shares.

Equity market turnover was 3.41 billion Sri Lankan rupees, exchange data showed.