Sri Lanka shares end lower as industrials weigh

BENGALURU: Sri Lankan shares closed lower for a third consecutive session on Tuesday, dragged by losses in industrial stocks.

The CSE All Share index settled down 0.52% at 11,279.03.

Sri Lanka’s central bank is expected to further loosen monetary policy on Thursday by cutting interest rates, albeit by a smaller degree than previous cuts, as it looks to use the rapid decline in inflation as an opportunity to foster growth.

Sri Lanka’s consumer inflation rate more than halved to 4.6% year-on-year in July helped by falling food prices, the statistics department said on Monday.

Expolanka Holdings PLC and LOLC Holdings PLC were the top losers on the CSE All Share on Tuesday, falling 1.8% and 1.6%, respectively.

Sri Lanka shares end lower as consumer staples and financials weigh

Trading volume on the CSE All Share index fell to 81 million shares from 169 million shares in the previous session.

The equity market’s turnover fell to 2.93 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($9 million) from 4.38 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net buyers, purchasing stocks worth 307.2 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading shares worth 2.77 billion rupees, the data showed.