Sri Lankan shares closed at their lowest in more than three weeks on Wednesday, weighed down by losses in financial and industrial stocks.
The CSE All-Share index closed 1.09% lower at 13,065.75, marking its second straight session of losses.
Stock markets in Asia and the United States have corrected heavily in recent sessions on concerns over the US Federal Reserve's policy tightening and Russia-Ukraine tensions.
Meanwhile, Sri Lankan equities are up nearly 7% so far this year, after an 80% surge in 2021 on strong domestic buying, even as the country deals with a massive debt repayment.
Analysts expect the island nation to face its first-ever default unless it increases dollar inflows. However, Sri Lanka has committed to repaying the entire $4 billion owed to investors in 2022.
Conglomerate Expolanka Holdings Plc fell 1.5% on Wednesday and was the biggest drag on the index, after gaining nearly 1,200% last year.
Sri Lankan shares end lower as industrials, financials weigh
LOLC Holdings, another major gainer in 2021, slid 1.5%.
Foreign investors were net sellers in the equity market, offloading shares worth 130.7 million rupees ($644,636.25), while domestic investors were net buyers of shares worth 5.28 billion rupees, exchange data showed.
The equity market's turnover was 5.34 billion rupees.
Trading volume rose to 160.3 million shares, from 151.8 million shares in the previous session.
The island-nation has reported a total of 603,654 coronavirus cases and 15,330 deaths as of Tuesday, data from the country's health bureau showed.
About 63.69% of Sri Lanka's population has been fully vaccinated, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
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