Sri Lankan shares fall as real estate, industrials stocks weigh

Sri Lankan shares closed lower on Monday, hurt by losses in real estate and industrials stocks.

The CSE All Share index settled down 0.37% at 20,979.18.

The island nation’s consumer prices climbed 8.1% year-on-year in August, after rising 7.2% in July, its statistics department said on Monday.

Pegasus Hotels of Ceylon PLC and Hunter & Company PLC were the top percentage losers on the CSE All Share index, tumbling 44.4% and 12.4%, respectively.

Trading volume on the CSE All Share index rose to 48.7 million shares from 39.4 million in the previous session.

The equity market’s turnover fell to 750.3 million Sri Lankan rupees ($2.27 million) from 1.34 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net buyers, purchasing stocks worth 38.7 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, selling shares worth 730.8 million rupees, the data showed.