Sri Lankan shares recovered on Thursday from a more-than-five-month low hit in the previous session, on bargain-hunting in financials and telecom stocks as foreign investors bought into the island nation's risky assets. The main stock index ended up 0.67 percent, or 47.25 points, at 7,047.31. On Monday, it had its lowest level since August 28, on concerns over a retrospective tax announced in the supplementary budget. Stock and forex markets were closed on Tuesday for a Buddhist religious holiday and on Wednesday for Independence Day.
Net foreign inflows hit a near-three-month high of 967.8 million rupees ($7.32 million) on Thursday, bringing the year-to-date net inflow to 907.7 million rupees. Foreign investors bought a net 22.07 billion rupees worth of stocks last year. Turnover was 2.35 billion rupees, its highest since January 12 and well above last year's daily average of 1.42 billion rupees, exchange data showed.