Sri Lankan shares fell over 2% on Monday, dragged down by industrials and consumer staples, as the country faced severe fuel shortage amid its worst economic crisis in seven decades.
Troops in Sri Lanka handed tokens on Monday to people queuing for petrol, while schools shut in Colombo and public employees were asked to work from home.
The CSE All-Share index closed 2.6% lower at 7,451.91. The index fell for the first time in five sessions.
Sri Lanka is currently facing its worst economic crisis in seven decades, unable to pay for essential imports such as fuel and medicine due to a severe shortage of foreign exchange.
Crisis-hit Sri Lanka just days from running out of fuel
The Sri Lankan president on Friday appointed tycoon Dhammika Perera as minister for investment promotion.
The island nation plans to call China, India and Japan to a donor conference, the country’s prime minister said last week, amid ongoing talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
On the CSE All-Share index, trading volume rose to 56.2 million shares from 44.7 million shares in the previous session.
The equity market turnover was 1.42 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($3.98 million), according to exchange data.
Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, purchasing 37.9 million rupees worth of shares, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading 1.41 billion rupees worth of shares, according to exchange data.
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