Sri Lankan shares end lower as country set to enter 10-day lockdown

Sri Lankan shares ended lower on Friday after the government announced a 10-day lockdown as COVID-19 infections and deaths overwhelmed the island nation's health system.

The CSE All-Share index closed 0.24% lower at 8,240.06 points, but clocked in a weekly gain of 3.05% - its first in four.

The benchmark index, which rose as much as 0.67% earlier in the session, gave up gains with financial stocks offseting strength in the industrial sector.

The island nation reported 186 fatalities due to COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 6,790.

Hospitals in Sri Lanka have been overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients as the highly transmissible Delta variant surges through the population. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is expected to address the country later in the day.

Sri Lankan shares rise on financial, industrial boost

About a quarter of Sri Lanka's population has been fully vaccinated, a majority of them with China's Sinopharm vaccine.

Sri Lanka's largest non-banking financial institution LOLC Finance Plc and Commercial Leasing and Finance Plc were the top drags in the index, closing 8.3% and 4.6% lower, respectively.

The Sri Lankan central bank on Thursday tightened its monetary policy - making it the first in Asia to raise interest rates since the pandemic began.

Trading volume on the exchange dropped to 225.4 million shares from 310.9 million shares in the previous session.

Foreign investors were net sellers in the equity market, offloading shares worth 771.1 million rupees, exchange data showed.

The equity market's turnover was 5.61 billion rupees, according to the exchange's data.