Sri Lanka's bourse ended weaker in thin volume on Friday, in a fourth straight fall as the global market downturn began to infect the usually insulated bourse, while the rupee weakened after the central bank raised its trading band, traders said. Sri Lanka's main share index fell 1.18 percent in early trade but closed 0.86 percent or 58.49 points weaker at 6,751.29, its lowest since July 29.
The day's turnover was 1.17 billion Sri Lanka rupees ($10.7 million), well below last year's average of 2.4 billion and this year's 2.65 billion. Friday's total volume was 61.5 million, lowest since July 28, against five-day average of 85.1 million. The 30-day and 90-day average trading volumes were 83.5 million and 108.4 million, respectively. Last year's daily average was 67.9 million. Foreign investors were net sellers of 66 million rupees worth of shares on Friday, extending the week's outflow to 546 million rupees and 1.13 billion in the last nine sessions. They have sold 8.79 billion rupees in 2011 after a record outflow of 26.4 billion in 2010.