Sri Lankan stock index gains 53.03 points

Sri Lanka’s stock market rose more than 1 per cent on Friday with retail and foreign investors buying shares in thin volumes in an overall skittish market concerned about a weak Sri Lankan rupee and the outlook for interest rates. The main index gained 1.1 per cent, or 53.03 points, to 4,885.18, its highest since May 28. “There was bargain hunting and we saw buying creeping in with the start of the fresh month,” said a stockbroker, speaking on condition of anonymity. Yields in Sri Lanka’s 364-day and 91-day T-bills have risen 330 basis points and 233 basis points since the central bank raised policy rates for the first time since 2007 on Feb.3. From / Gulf Today