Oct 13 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan shares closed sharply higher on Thursday, lifted by strong gains in heavyweight industrial and financial stocks.

* The CSE All-Share index settled 3.34% higher at 9,148.55, exchange data showed.

* The index is still down around 25% this year as the island nation battles its worst economic crisis in more than seven decades.

* Conglomerate Expolanka Holdings Plc and LOLC Finance Plc were the top boosts to the index, rising 8.2% and 12.7%, respectively.

* Trading volume on the CSE All-Share index rose to 75.8 million shares on Thursday, from 66.5 million shares in the previous session.

* Equity market turnover was 2.57 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($7.10 million), according to exchange data.

* Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, purchasing 278.7 million rupees of shares, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading stocks worth 2.55 billion rupees, data showed.

* For a report on global markets, click ($1 = 362.0000 Sri Lankan rupees) (Reporting by Nishit Navin in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)