Sri Lankan shares ended mostly unchanged on Wednesday, as investors awaited developments over a bailout package for the island nation reeling from a worst economic crisis in decades.

At the close of trade, the CSE All-Share index was down 0.05% at 7,626.69.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Sri Lanka should kick off debt restructuring talks with its bilateral lender China, while the island state’s government seeks a financing loan from the Washington-based fund.

Sri Lankan shares close lower as industrials fall

Conglomerate Expolanka Holdings Plc and Ceylon Brewery were the top losers on the index, falling 1% and 11.9%, respectively.

The country of 22 million is unable to pay for essential imports such as fuel and medicine due to a severe shortage of foreign exchange.

On the CSE All-Share index, trading volume rose to 54.3 million shares from 37.3 million shares in the previous session.

The equity market turnover was 1.01 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($2.83 million) according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, purchasing 392.2 million rupees worth of shares, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading 904.7 million rupees worth of shares, the data showed.