Sri Lankan shares on longest losing streak since early June

21 Nov, 2022

Sri Lankan shares closed lower for a sixth straight session on Monday, as losses in energy and consumer staples stocks offset a near 3% gain in industrial conglomerate Expolanka Holdings.

The CSE All-Share index fell 0.52% to a near four-month low of 7,777.02, registering its longest losing streak since early June.

Meanwhile, data released after market hours on Monday showed crisis-hit Sri Lanka’s National Consumer Price Index slowed year-on-year to 70.6% in October after a record 73.7% jump in September.

Sri Lanka’s stock market has fallen in every trading session since President Ranil Wickremesinghe unveiled a budget last week, with analysts saying they expected more targeted policies.

In Monday’s session, conglomerate Carson Cumberbatch Plc and energy company Lanka IOC PLC were the biggest drags, falling 9.4% and 3.8%, respectively.

Sri Lankan shares on 4-day slide, consumer and financial stocks weigh

Trading volume fell to 36.1 million shares from about 49.4 million in the previous session.

The equity market’s turnover was 1.2 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($3.31 million), compared with 1.44 million rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, purchasing stocks worth 40.6 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading shares worth 1.2 billion rupees, data showed.

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