Sri Lankan shares fell for a second straight week on Friday, dragged down by industrial and financial stocks, but rounded off a quarter with solid gains.
The index advanced 35.26% for the latest three months, its biggest quarterly gain since September 2010. The CSE All-Share index settled 0.21% lower at 9,931.07 on Friday, its second straight session of loss.
Since the ousting of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in July, the CSE share index has been rising for three months to September.
This month, Sri Lanka reached a staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for the loan of about $2.9 billion, with the lender’s board expected to approve it by end of this year.
Meanwhile, consumer inflation in Sri Lanka rose 69.8% in September, compared with a year earlier, data from the statistics department showed on Friday after the market closed.
Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki on Thursday held a bilateral talk with Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe, and urged him to proceed with reform based on a staff-level agreement with the IMF and provide sufficient information on debt.
Sri Lankan shares inch lower as financials drag
Conglomerates Expolanka Holdings Plc and finance co Senkadagala Finance Plc were the top drags on the index, falling 1% and nearly 9%, respectively.
Trading volume on the CSE All-Share index fell to 99.4 million shares from 214.2 million in the previous session.
The equity market turnover was 2.58 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($7.15 million), compared with 3.44 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.
Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, purchasing 209.4 million rupees worth of shares, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading 2.44 billion rupees worth of stocks, data showed.
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