Sri Lankan shares slid to their worst session in nearly a month on Tuesday, hurt by losses in industrial and energy stocks.
The CSE All-Share index closed 2.64% lower at 8,267.77, exchange data showed. The index had registered a loss of 2.7% for the previous week.
Sri Lankan markets were closed on Monday for a holiday.
Data released after market hours on Friday showed the island nation’s trade deficit narrowed year-on-year to $206 million in September.
Sri Lanka is in the grip of a deep financial crisis, caused by record-low foreign exchange reserves that have left it struggling to pay for essential imports including fuel, food, cooking gas and medicine.
Gross official reserves dipped month-on-month to $1.7 billion at the end of October, central bank data showed on Friday, from $1.8 billion at the end of September.
Conglomerate Expolanka Holdings PLC and energy firm Lanka IOC PLC were the biggest drags on Tuesday, falling 7.7% and 7.1%, respectively.
Trading volume on the CSE All-Share index rose to 46.5 million shares from 28.2 million in the previous session.
The equity market’s turnover was 1.12 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($3.07 million), according to exchange data.
Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, purchasing 91 million rupees of shares, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading stocks worth 1.12 billion rupees, data showed.
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