Financial and industrial stocks drag Sri Lankan shares lower

Sri Lankan shares closed lower on Friday, dragged down by financial and industrial stocks.

The CSE All-Share index settled 0.6% lower at 22,024.18 points.

Hatton National Bank and Richard Pieris were among the biggest drags on the index, losing 1.9% and 6.2%, respectively.

Trading volume jumped to 100.7 million shares from 87.1 million shares in the previous session.

The equity market’s turnover rose to 3.23 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($9.71 million) from 2.98 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net buyers, purchasing stocks worth 56.7 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading shares worth 3.21 billion rupees, the data showed.