Sri Lanka main benchmark stock index ended 0.2% weaker at 5,878.29 on Monday. It fell 0.15% last week and 0.8% in August. Sri Lankan investors have been mainly in a wait-and-see mode since the main opposition party named a hardline former defence chief as its presidential candidate.
The market has been awaiting details of former defence chief Gotabaya Rajapaksa's campaign as well as the identity of the ruling party's presidential candidate, who has yet to be announced, dealers said.
So far this year, the stock index has dropped about 2.7%.
Equity market turnover was 559.1 million rupees ($3.11 million) on Monday, less than this year's daily average of about 650.3 million rupees so far. Last year's daily average was 834 million.
Foreign investors sold a net 19.1 million rupees worth of shares on Monday, but they have sold a net 1.3 billion rupees worth of equities so far this year, according to index data.
Central Bank Governor Indrajit Coomaraswamy after the policy rate cut on Aug. 23 said the bank was ready to cope with the outflow of total $700 million foreign funds invested in Sri Lankan government securities. Exit of some funds had resulted in some pressure on the local currency.
The central bank in its monetary policy rate statement said the depreciation pressure was expected to be short-lived.
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