Communications, financial stocks lift Sri Lankan shares higher

Oct 16 (Reuters) — Sri Lankan shares closed higher on Friday, led by communications and financial stocks. The CSE All-Share index settled 1.07% higher at 20,185.05 points. Dialog Axiata and Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka were the biggest gainers on the index, rising 3.53% and 2.95%, respectively, on the day. Trading volume on the index rose to 68.4 million shares from 51.6 million shares in the previous session. The equity market's turnover dipped to 1.14 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($3.44 million) from 1.5 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data. Foreign investors were net sellers, offloading stocks worth 54.8 million rupees, while domestic investors were net buyers, purchasing shares worth 1.1 billion rupees, the data showed. For a report on global markets, click MKTS/GLOB ($1 = 331.2500 Sri Lankan rupees) (Reporting by Abhirami G in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)