Sri Lankan stocks fell to a three-week closing low on Tuesday and marked their third straight session of losses due to a rise in market interest rates. The central bank raised yields on treasury bills between 86 basis points and 91 basis points at a weekly auction on Tuesday. It scrapped a lower repo penalty rate of 5 percent from Monday, five months after it adopted the measure to boost credit growth.
The main stock index ended 0.13 percent, or 9.48 points, down at 7,234.92, its lowest close since February 9. "There'll be a slight slowdown in the market temporally with the rise in interest rates," said Dimantha Mathew, manager, research, at First Capital Equities (pvt) Ltd.
Shares of Selinsing Plc fell 20.13 percent, while Dialog Axiata Plc dropped 1.69 percent. Market heavyweight John Keells Holdings Plc ended 0.29 percent up and accounted for 54.8 percent of the day's turnover. Day's turnover was 1.81 billion rupees ($13.62 million), more than this year's daily average of 1.39 billion rupees.
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