Sri Lankan shares end lower as consumer staples, communication services drag

BENGALURU: Sri Lankan shares closed lower on Tuesday, dragged by consumer staples and communication services stocks.

The CSE All Share index settled 0.15% lower at 12,216.97 points, its second consecutive session of losses.

Ceylon Tobacco and Lion Brewery were top losers on the index, falling 1.9% and 2.5%, respectively.

Colombo Stock Exchange on Tuesday revised listing rules to facilitate shortening of settlement cycle from T+3 to T+2 for equity transactions. The revised rules will be effective from June 10.

Sri Lanka’s consumer price inflation rose to 2.7% in April from 2.5% in March, official data showed on Tuesday.

Sri Lankan shares end lower as financials, consumer staples drag

Trading volume on the CSE index rose to 54.6 million shares from 53.9 million shares in the previous session.

The equity market’s turnover grew to 1.30 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($4.34 million) from 1.08 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors net bought stocks worth 210.2 million rupees, while domestic investors net sold shares worth 1.19 billion rupees, the data showed.