Aug 25 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan shares closed at their highest level in almost seven months on Wednesday, led by a near 20% jump in Commercial Leasing and Finance Plc that lifted the financials sector.
* The CSE All-Share index rose 1.02% to 8,756.63 points.
* The benchmark index closed higher for a third consecutive session and has gained more than 6% this week so far.
* Financial services provider Commercial Leasing and Finance was the top boost to the index, closing 19.1% higher, while conglomerate Expolanka Holdings Plc rose 3.3%.
* The equity market's turnover was 7.30 billion rupees, according to stock exchange data https://www.cse.lk/pages/daily-market-summary/daily-market-summary.component.html.
* Trading volume on the exchange dropped to 287.9 million shares from 421.4 million shares in the earlier session.
* Foreign investors were net sellers in the equity market, offloading shares worth 153.4 million rupees, exchange data showed
* The country's central bank said it would issue treasury bonds worth 50 billion rupees on Aug. 30
* Sri Lanka reported https://hpb.health.gov.lk/covid19-dashboard 190 fatalities due to COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 7,750.
* COVID-19 cases rose by 4,446 in the last 24 hours, crossing the 400,000-mark even as the island-nation remains under a 10-day lockdown.
* Data https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/region/sri-lanka from Johns Hopkins University showed the country has fully vaccinated 26.64% of its population so far.
* Twenty-nine stocks hit fresh highs, while 27 companies hit new lows on the main exchange, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.
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* For a report on major currencies, click (Reporting by Shivani Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)