Sri Lankan shares end lower as financials, industrials weigh

Sri Lankan shares ended lower on Tuesday, hit by losses in financial and industrial stocks.

Sri Lankan shares end lower as industrials, financials weigh

• The CSE All-Share index fell 1.73% to 8,638.92, marking its worst day since Nov. 24.

• The island nation, caught in the worst economic turmoil since independence from Britain in 1948, has sought a $2.9 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund.

• India, the third major creditor to Sri Lanka, agreed to support the country’s debt restructuring last month.

• Softlogic Life Insurance Plc and Sri Lanka Telecom Plc were the biggest drags to the index, down 25.5% and 2.4%, respectively, according to Refinitiv data.

• The trading volume on the CSE All-Share index rose to 85.6 million shares from 51.4 million in the previous session.

• The equity market’s turnover rose to 2.24 billion Sri Lankan rupees from 1.27 billion rupees on Monday, according to exchange data.

• Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, purchasing stocks worth 689.6 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading 2.03 billion rupees worth of shares, the data showed.