Sri Lankan stocks dipped on Tuesday, dragged down by foreign selling in the bourse's top three shares, brokers said. The key Colombo all-share index fell a provisional 0.33 percent, or 5.63 points, to 1,703.69 points. However the index is still near life highs, and has gained more than 12 percent so far this year on hopes for upbeat corporate earnings and gains in the construction sector seen benefitting from post-tsunami rebuilding. The Milanka index which tracks the most liquid and highly capitalised stocks - fell to 0.84 percent, or 19.90 points, to 2,336.48 points.
Conglomerate John Keells Holdings Ltd fell 1.46 percent to 135 rupees on 51 million rupees worth of profit-taking by foreign investors.
Keells in January warned investors that group profits in the current year (2004/05) would fall below expectations after the tsunami damaged many of its hotels and disturbed the selling and distribution networks of the company's food and beverage operations.
Sri Lanka Telecom Ltd fell 1.54 percent to 17 rupees on foreign sales of 21 million rupees.
Retail fuel giant Lanka IOC fell 0.97 percent to 51.25 rupees.
The three shares together account for almost 24 percent of the bourse's total market capitalisation.
Total market turnover was 518.82 million rupees, with 115 million rupees of foreign sales and 57 million rupees of foreign purchases.