Investing.com – Sri Lanka equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Construction & Engineering, Investment Trust and Power & Energy sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Colombo, the CSE All-Share added 1.06% to hit a new 1-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CSE All-Share were Chilaw Finance PLC (CM:CHIL), which rose 22.35% or 3.80 points to trade at 20.80 at the close. Selinsing PLC (CM:SELI) added 21.48% or 290.00 points to end at 1639.80 and Merchant Bank of Sri Lanka & Finance PLC (CM:MBSL) was up 17.27% or 1.90 points to 12.90 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Royal Palms Beach Hotels PLC (CM:RPBH), which lost 8.20% or 2.50 points to trade at 28.00 in late trade. Office Equipment PLC (CM:OFEQ) declined 6.47% or 7.40 points to end at 106.90 and John Keells PLC (CM:JKL) shed 5.84% or 4.50 points to 72.50.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 166 to 33 and 25 ended unchanged on the Colombo Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for May delivery was down 0.11% or 0.04 to $37.71 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in June unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to hit $39.84 a barrel, while the June Gold contract rose 1.11% or 13.60 to trade at $1237.40 a troy ounce.
GBP/LKR was down 0.07% to 203.170, while USD/LKR fell 0.37% to 143.800.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.02% at 94.47.