Investing.com – Sri Lanka stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Palm Oil, Construction & Engineering and Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Colombo, the CSE All-Share added 0.21% to hit a new 6-months high.
The best performers of the session on the CSE All-Share were PC House PLC (CM:PCHO), which rose 50.00% or 0.100 points to trade at 0.200 at the close. Meanwhile, Lanka Cement PLC (CM:LCEM) added 15.19% or 1.20 points to end at 9.10 and Paragon Ceylon PLC (CM:PARA) was up 13.74% or 108.70 points to 900.00 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were Office Equipment PLC (CM:OFEQ), which fell 9.97% or 199.30 points to trade at 1800.00 at the close. People`s Merchant Finance PLC (CM:PMB) declined 8.43% or 2.10 points to end at 22.80 and SMB Leasing PLC (CM:SEMB) was down 8.33% or 0.10 points to 1.20.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Colombo Stock Exchange by 127 to 111 and 12 ended unchanged.
Shares in Paragon Ceylon PLC (CM:PARA) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 13.74% or 108.70 to 900.00.
Crude oil for October delivery was down 0.50% or 0.21 to $42.91 a barrel. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Brent oil for delivery in October rose 0.06% or 0.03 to hit $48.84 a barrel, while the December Gold contract rose 0.43% or 4.80 to trade at $1121.70 a troy ounce.
GBP/LKR was up 0.08% to 210.510, while USD/LKR rose 0.29% to 134.390.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.01% at 96.97.