Sri Lankan shares fall as industrials, real estate, energy stocks drag

Sri Lankan shares closed lower on Monday, marking fourth consecutive session of fall, on the back of weakness in industrial, real estate, and energy stocks. The CSE All Share index fell 1.1% to 21,898.20 Sri Lanka’s consumer prices climbed 2.4% year-on-year in November, after rising 2.7% in October, the statistics department said. SMB Finance PLC and Colombo Dockyard PLC were the top percentage losers on the CSE All Share index, falling 25% and 24.9%, respectively. Trading volume on the CSE All Share index rose to 81.9 million shares from 75.1 million in the previous session. The equity market’s turnover fell to 2.98 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($9.6 million) from 3.45 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data. Foreign investors were net buyers, purchasing stocks worth 57.2 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading shares worth 2.93 billion rupees, the data showed.