BENGALURU: Sri Lankan shares fell the most in a month on Thursday, dragged down by losses in consumer staples and industrial stocks.

The benchmark stock index ended down 0.5pc at 6,624.15?. It is up 8.1pc for the year so far.

Trading volume on the CSE All Share Index was 610.33 million compared to 410.41 million a day earlier.

Ceylon Tobacco Company Plc and Browns Investment Plc were the biggest drags to the index, losing 2.3pc and 4.9pc, respectively.

Foreign investors were net sellers in the equity market, offloading 112.85 million rupees ($603,475.94) worth of shares, according to exchange data.

The Sri Lankan rupee was quoted at 186.5 against the U.S. dollar as of 10:42 GMT, 0.21pc higher for the day compared to last session's close of 186.9, according to Refinitiv data.

The currency is down 2.87pc so far this year.

Equity market turnover was 4.44 billion rupees, data showed.