Sri Lankan shares closed more than 1% lower on Monday after rising in the previous session, hurt by losses in industrial and financial stocks.

At the close of trade, the CSE All-Share index was down 1.31% at 7,359.55, after falling 2.53% last week.

Sri Lanka is currently facing its worst economic crisis in seven decades, unable to pay for essential imports such as fuel and medicine due to a severe shortage of foreign exchange.

A top Sri Lankan minister said on Sunday the country was struggling to raise $587 million to pay for about half a dozen fuel shipments.

International Monetary Fund officials will continue to hold talks with Sri Lanka for a possible $3 billion bailout package, the global lender said last week after wrapping up a 10-day visit to Colombo.

Sri Lankan shares end higher as financial stocks gain

On the CSE All-Share index, trading volume jumped to 109.8 million shares from 35.5 million shares in the previous session.

Conglomerate Expolanka Holdings Plc and Browns Investments were the top losers on the index, declining 3.8% and nearly 4% respectively.

The equity market turnover was 1.31 billion rupees ($3.65 million), according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, purchasing 38.1 million rupees worth of shares, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading 1.3 billion rupees worth of shares, the data showed.