Industrials, financials drag Sri Lankan shares lower

Sri Lankan shares snapped two sessions of gains to close lower on Wednesday, dragged by industrials and financial stocks.

The CSE All-Share index fell 0.15% to 8,210.31.

Conglomerates Expolanka Holdings and LOLC Holdings were the top drags, ending the session down 3.3% and 1.2% respectively

Sri Lanka paid a $1 billion bond last week, but the alarming state of its finances suggests it may have been just another step towards its first sovereign default.

Sri Lankan shares end higher as industrials, consumer staples gain

The island nation reported 2,425 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, bringing its total confirmed cases to 316,194, while deaths rose by 74 to 4,645.

Data from Johns Hopkins university showed the country had fully vaccinated about 11.23% of its population so far.

Trading volume on the exchange fell to 245.01 million shares from 282.3 million shares in the previous session.

Foreign investors were net sellers in the equity market, offloading shares worth 344.6 million rupees, exchange data showed.

The equity market's turnover was 5.68 billion rupees, according to the exchange data.