Sri Lankan stocks steady

Sri Lankan shares ended steady on Tuesday as a weak rupee, which is trading near all-time lows, kept risk appetite muted, stockbrokers said. Sri Lanka's president reshuffled his cabinet on Tuesday after the defection of several ministers from his party, but it failed to boost the stock market, which had been looking for an end to the country's political uncertainty.
The Colombo stock index ended 0.04 percent firmer at 6,533.94. The index lost 0.15 percent last week. Turnover stood at 517.9 million rupees ($3.3 million), less than half of this year's daily average of around 1.1 billion rupees.
Foreign investors bought a net 303.1 million rupees on Tuesday, but they have sold net 650.8 million rupees worth of equities so far this year.