Shares end flat but extend weekly rally

Shares closed little changed on Friday, as gains in IT shares offset losses in energy stocks, but still posted their third straight week of gains.

The CSE All-Share index edged up 0.1% at 23,731.60 points. For the week, it gained 0.33%.

A fact-finding ‌mission from ‌the ⁠International ​Monetary Fund ‌will visit the island nation starting next week, an IMF spokesperson said on Thursday.

On the day, ACME Printing and Packaging and Industrial Asphalts (Ceylon) were the ⁠top two percentage gainers on the index, ‌up 25% each.

Trading ‍volumes on ‍the index fell to 132.6 ‍million shares from 326.2 million shares in the previous session.

The equity market’s turnover dropped to ​4.73 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($15.27 million) from 9.27 billion rupees ⁠in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net buyers, purchasing stocks worth 176 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading shares worth 4.62 billion rupees, the data showed.