Sri Lankan shares settled lower on Tuesday, pausing their five consecutive sessions of gains, as financial stocks declined.
At the close of trade, the CSE All-Share index fell 0.38% to 9,330.33.
Sri Lanka’s central bank said on Tuesday the country’s trade deficit in July had narrowed to $123 million from $606 million a year ago.
Sri Lanka’s merchandise imports in July fell 24.8% while exports rose 5.4% year-over-year, the central bank said.
The nation of 22 million is facing its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948, as it struggles with soaring inflation, economic contraction and a severe shortage of essential items caused by a record slump in foreign reserves.
Sri Lankan shares post fifth straight day of gains on financials boost
Last week, Sri Lanka reached a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund for a loan of about $2.9 billion, subject to certain conditions.
On the CSE All-Share index, trading volume fell to 129.2 million shares from 203.4 million shares in the previous session.
LOLC Finance and LOLC Holdings were the top drags to the index, falling 11.3% and 4.9%, respectively.
The equity market turnover was at 4.11 billion rupees ($11.39 million), compared with 4.14 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.
Foreign investors were net sellers in the equity market, offloading 197.9 million rupees worth of shares, while domestic investors were net buyers, purchasing 4.01 billion rupees worth of shares, data showed.
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