Sri Lanka shares end muted

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan shares closed little changed on Wednesday, as losses in utilities countered gains in IT stocks.

The CSE All Share index shed 0.02 percent to 22,329.69. Royal Palms Beach Hotels was the top percentage gainer on the benchmark, rising 10.33 percent, while Mercantile Investments and Finance was the top percentage loser, plummeting 99.5 percent.

Trading volume on the CSE All Share index more than doubled session-on-session to 157.3 million shares.

The equity market’s turnover rose to 3.33 billion Sri Lankan rupees (USD10.8 million) from 2.86 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net sellers, offloading stocks worth 144.9 million rupees, while domestic investors were net buyers, purchasing shares worth 3.31 billion rupees, the data showed.