Utilities, industrials drag Sri Lankan shares lower

Sri Lankan shares closed lower on Wednesday, dragged by utilities and industrials stocks.

The CSE All-Share index settled 0.35% lower at 21,466 points.

Ceylinco Holdings and Hayleys Plc were the top losers, down 33.66 points and 14.89 points respectively, on the day.

Trading volume on the index fell to 43.1 million shares from 68.1 million shares in the previous session.

The equity market’s turnover dipped to 972.23 million Sri Lankan rupees ($2.96 million) from 1.47 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net sellers offloading stocks worth 81.2 million rupees, while domestic investors were net buyers, purchasing shares worth 962.36 billion rupees, the data showed.