Sri Lankan shares close marginally lower as IT stocks weigh

Sri Lankan shares closed marginally lower on Tuesday as losses in information technology countered gains from real estate stocks.

The CSE All Share index settled down 0.07% at 23,882.82.

Eastern Merchants PLC and Diesel & Motor Engineering PLC were the top percentage losers on the CSE All Share index, falling 8.7% and 7.8%, respectively.

Trading volume on the CSE All Share index fell to 160.8 million shares from 243.8 million on Monday.

The equity market’s turnover fell to 4.23 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($13.7 million) from 5.63 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net sellers, offloading stocks worth 82.3 million rupees, while domestic investors were net buyers, purchasing shares worth 4.19 billion rupees, the data showed.