BENGALURU: Sri Lankan shares closed lower on Tuesday, dragged by losses in financial stocks.

The CSE All Share index settled down 0.06% at 10,817.53.

The Export-Import Bank of China reached a preliminary agreement with Sri Lanka last month on the disposal of China-related debts, China’s Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday, as the island sought debt relief from its biggest bilateral lender.

LOLC Finance PLC and Sampath Bank PLC were the top losers on the CSE, falling 2% and 1.7%, respectively.

Trading volume on the index fell to 19.1 million shares from 54.3 million shares.

The equity market’s turnover fell to 673.7 million Sri Lankan rupees ($2.08 million) from 1.1 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net sellers, offloading stocks worth 97.9 million rupees, while domestic investors were net buyers, purchasing shares worth 650.9 million rupees, the data showed.