Materials and financials drag Sri Lankan shares lower

Sri Lankan shares closed lower on Tuesday, dragged by materials and financial stocks.

The CSE All-Share index settled 0.38% lower at 21,542.23 points.

Ceylinco Holdings and Ceylon Beverage Holdings were the top index point losers, falling 33.66 points and 8.81 points, respectively, on the day.

Trading volume on the index slightly rose to 68.14 million shares from 63.9 million shares in the previous session.

The equity market’s turnover dipped to 1.46 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($4.44 million) from 2.13 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net buyers, purchasing stocks worth 43.8 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading shares worth 1.44 billion rupees, the data showed.