Sri Lankan shares ended marginally firmer, led by financials, though gains were muted as investors looked for fresh cues from political and economic fronts, brokers said. The Colombo stock index ended 0.08 percent higher at 6,523.88, recovering from its lowest since April 24 hit in the previous session. The index lost 0.15 percent last week.
"There is no sentiment booster for the market. The turnover was very low and investors are keen to see some positive factors in political and economical fronts," said Prashan Fernando, CEO at Acuity Stockbrokers. Top lender Commercial Bank of Ceylon closed 0.3 percent firmer while Sampath Bank ended 0.4 percent higher.
Turnover stood at 463.2 million rupees ($2.94 million), less than half of this year's daily average of 1.05 billion rupees. Foreign investors bought a net 46.3 million rupees worth of equities on Thursday, but the market has seen a net foreign outflow to 622.7 million rupees worth of equities so far this year.