Sri Lankan shares closed lower for a fifth straight session on Wednesday, weighed down by industrials and consumer discretionary firms.

Sri Lankan shares slide for 4th day as financials, industrials weigh

• The CSE All Share index ended 1.04% lower at 8,420.26, with top drag conglomerate Expolanka Holdings Plc losing 4.1%.

• Meanwhile, data released after market hours on Wednesday showed crisis-hit Sri Lanka’s National Consumer Price Index eased year-on-year to 65% in November after a 70.6% jump in October.

• Food prices were up 69.8% in November, while non-food inflation was 60.4%, the Department of Census and Statistics of the crisis-struck nation said in a statement.

• The trading volume fell to 68.4 million shares from 70.8 million in the previous session.

• The equity market’s turnover rose to 4.62 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($12.73 million) from 2.82 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

• Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, purchasing stocks worth 2.98 billion rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading 4.54 billion rupees of shares, the data showed.