Shares log biggest gain in June

Sri Lankan shares posted their biggest daily gain in June on Friday, aided by broad-based gains, though the benchmark remained down about 3.1% this month.

The CSE All Share index settled up 1.73% at 21,637.43, ‌but still ‌ended the ​week ‌down ⁠about ​0.5%, marking ⁠its second straight weekly decline.

SMB Finance PLC and Industrial Asphalts (Ceylon) were the top percentage gainers on the CSE All Share index, rising 50% ⁠and 17.7%, respectively.

Trading volume on the index fell to 83.8 million shares from 86.4 million in the previous session.

The equity market’s turnover rose to 1.99 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($5.94 ‌million) from 1.66 billion rupees in the previous session, ⁠according ⁠to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net buyers, purchasing stocks worth 39.6 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading shares worth 1.98 billion rupees, the data showed.