SL shares climb to near 7-week high

COLOMBO, Jan 8 (Reuters): Sri Lankan shares rose on Monday to a near seven-week high as blue chip shares such as John Keells Holdings Plc gained, while foreign investors continued to buy the island nation's risky assets.

The Colombo Stock Index ended 0.4 per cent firmer at 6,540.51, its highest close since November 10.

The bourse rose 2.3 per cent last week, in its second straight weekly gain.

Foreign buying accounted for 61.2 per cent of the day's turnover of 1.7 billion rupees. Foreign investors net bought shares worth 33.9 million Sri Lankan rupees ($220,559.53) on Monday, extending the net foreign inflow in this year to 2.0 billion rupees.

They had net bought 18.5 billion rupees worth equities in 2017 and 633.5 million rupees in 2016.