Sri Lankan shares drop for third straight session as industrial, consumer discretionary stocks weigh

Sri Lankan shares closed lower on Monday, weighed down by industrial and consumer discretionary stocks

The CSE All-Share index fell 1.3% to 21,092.24, marking its third straight session of losses. The index posted its first weekly gain in five last week.

Sri Lanka raised power tariffs for most households by 7.2% and industries by 8.7% on Monday, as the island nation grapples with higher energy costs stemming from the Iran war.

Hotels will pay 9.9% more, while poorer households will pay between 4.3% to 6.9% more under the new prices.

The new tariffs will be implemented from the beginning of April.

Conglomerates Lake House Printers and Publishers Plc and Palm Garden Hotels Plc were the biggest drags on the CSE All-Share index, falling 9.9% and 8.5%, respectively.

Trading volume fell to 100.4 million shares from 145.5 million in the previous session.

The equity market’s turnover declined to 2.17 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($6.9 million), compared with 2.67 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net sellers of shares worth 87.9 million rupees in the equity market, while domestic investors were net buyers of shares worth 2.12 billion rupees, data showed.