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By Reuters Staff
2 Min Read
Jan 22 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan shares closed at a record high on Friday, helped by gains in financial and consumer staples stocks, and as investors cheered the country’s drug regulator giving emergency use approval to AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine. The benchmark stock index ended up 4.09% at 8,463.43. The index gained 9.4% for the week, its best weekly performance since May 2009. Sri Lanka’s National Medicines Regulatory Authority gave regulatory clearance for emergency use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, state minister Channa Jayasumana told reporters in Colombo. The island nation will receive shipments of the vaccine from India, though the exact date is unknown.