Investing.com – Sri Lanka equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Trading, Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals and Information Technology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in Colombo, the CSE All-Share gained 0.69% to hit a new 3-month high.
The biggest gainers of the session on the CSE All-Share were SMB Leasing PLC (CM:SEMB), which rose 20.00% or 0.1000 points to trade at 0.6000 at the close. Kotmale Holdings PLC (CM:LAMB) added 18.18% or 20.00 points to end at 130.00 and Multi Finance PLC (CM:MULT) was up 17.21% or 2.10 points to 14.30 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Harischandra Mills PLC (CM:HARI), which lost 17.50% or 489.90 points to trade at 2310.00 in late trade. Swarnamahal Financial Services PLC (CM:SWAR) declined 10.00% or 0.100 points to end at 0.900 and Nation Lanka Finance PLC (CM:CSF) shed 9.09% or 0.100 points to 1.000.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 133 to 49 and 55 ended unchanged on the Colombo Stock Exchange.
In commodities trading, Crude oil for May delivery was up 1.12% or 0.58 to $52.28 a barrel. Meanwhile, Brent oil for delivery in June rose 0.93% or 0.51 to hit $55.40 a barrel, while the June Gold Futures contract rose 1.04% or 13.05 to trade at $1266.35 a troy ounce.
GBP/LKR was down 0.51% to 188.595, while USD/LKR rose 0.03% to 151.890.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.11% at 100.72.