Sri Lankan stocks rise to 3-wk top on rising banks

COLOMBO, Nov 1 (Reuters): Sri Lankan stocks rose for a seventh straight session Friday to hit a three-week high, led by banks and foreign investors as corporate earnings and lower rates helped lift sentiment.

Sri Lanka's main stock index ended up 0.44 per cent, or 32.40 points, at 7,326.81, its highest close since Oct. 9.

"There was a lot of buying interest. Investors are expecting good earnings and heavy trading was seen mostly in blue-chips," said Dimantha Mathew, manager, research at First Capital Equities (pvt) Ltd.

"A lot of foreign interest was seen in banking shares, expecting credit growth to pick up in a low interest rate regime."

Net foreign inflows on Friday touched 1.68 billion rupees ($12.85 million), its highest since May 9. The bourse has seen net foreign inflows of 14.77 billion rupees so far this year, exchange data showed.

The day's turnover was 3.81 billion rupees, its highest since Oct. 3 and well above this year's daily average of 1.36 billion rupees.