Shares fall over 2% as industrial stocks weigh

REUTERS: Sri Lankan shares fell more than 2 percent yesterday, extending losses to a third straight session as industrials and financial stocks dragged the benchmark.

The CSE All-share index (.CSE) ended 2.43 percent lower at 12,081.69 points.

Conglomerates LOLC Holdings (LOLC.CM) and Expolanka Holdings (EXPO.CM) were the top drags on the index, falling 5.4 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively.

Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, purchasing shares worth Rs.150.4 million (US $ 748,258.71), while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading shares worth Rs.5.16 billion, exchange data showed.

The equity market turnover was Rs.5.29 billion.

The trading volume rose to 207.2 million shares from 188.1 million shares in the previous session.

Sri Lanka is facing its worst financial crisis in decades, with foreign exchange reserves dwindling and debt repayments looming.

Its Central Bank said yesterday the country was committed to honouring all forthcoming debt obligations and it was not on the verge of a sovereign default.

Sri Lanka has outstanding sovereign bonds amounting to US $ 12.55 billion, with US $ 1 billion of the bonds maturing in July 2022.

The island-nation had reported 621,985 coronavirus cases and 15,656 deaths as of Tuesday, data from the country’s health bureau showed.

About 64.31 percent of Sri Lanka’s population has been fully vaccinated, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.