Financials, consumer staples push Sri Lankan shares to close lower

Sri Lankan shares ended lower on Tuesday, weighed down by losses in financial and consumer staple stocks, while rising domestic COVID-19 cases also weighed on investors' risk appetite.

The CSE All-Share index ended 0.38% lower at 8,070.88.

Conglomerate LOLC Holdings and finance and leasing company LOLC Development Finance Plc were the top drags in the index, falling 1.9% and 2.3%, respectively.

Sentiment took a further beating after the island-nation reported 2,953 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, bringing its total confirmed cases to 332,947, while deaths rose by 111 to 5,222.

Sri Lankan shares flat as losses in material stocks offset industrial gains

Data from Johns Hopkins university showed the country had fully vaccinated about 12.74% of its population so far.

Trading volume on the exchange fell slightly to 186.6 million shares from 187.7 million shares in the previous session.

Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, purchasing shares worth 84.8 million rupees ($426,130.65), exchange data showed.

The Sri Lankan rupee was last quoted at 199 against the US dollar, as of 1145 GMT, steady from previous session's close, according to Refinitiv data.

The equity market's turnover was 4.73 billion rupees, according to the exchange data.