Sri Lankan shares closed lower on Thursday, dragged down by industrial and communication services stocks.

The CSE All Share index fell 0.13% to 8,926.56.

China’s foreign ministry on Thursday said their Export-Import (EXIM) bank has provided debt extension to Sri Lanka, confirming a Reuters report earlier this week.

Masato Kanda, Japan’s top finance diplomat, told Reuters that his country was working hard to help Sri Lanka by coordinating with the Paris Club of creditor nations and the International Monetary Fund to ensure the participation of China and India in efforts to restructure its debt.

Conglomerate LOLC Development Finance PLC and Lion Brewery (Ceylon) PLC were the biggest drags to the index on Thursday, down 3.8% and 9.9%, respectively, according to Refinitiv data.

Sri Lankan shares end higher after central bank holds rates

The trading volume for the CSE All Share index fell to 41 million shares from 91.7 million in the previous session.

The equity market’s turnover fell to 1.23 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($3.39 million) from 1.98 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, purchasing stocks worth 72.4 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading 1.19 billion rupees worth of shares, the data showed.