Sri Lankan shares extend losses as financials weigh

10 Jan, 2023

Sri Lankan shares closed lower for the fourth straight day on Tuesday, dragged down by losses in financial stocks.

The CSE All-Share index fell 0.15% to 8,367.69, exchange data showed.

Sri Lanka’s cabinet on Monday after market hours approved new electricity tariffs to reflect the cost of coal and power generation to take effect this month.

Power Minister Kanchana Wijesekera did not say how much higher the tariffs would be.

Conglomerate LOLC Development Finance PLC and LOLC Finance PLC were the biggest drags on Tuesday, down 13.6% and 2.6%, respectively, according to Refinitiv data.

The trading volume for the CSE All-Share index fell to 95.4 million shares from 127.2 million in the previous session.

The equity market’s turnover fell to 1.84 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($5.07 million) from 2.39 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, purchasing stocks worth 63.5 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading 1.79 billion rupees worth of shares, the data showed.

Read Comments