Sri Lankan shares closed lower for a fourth straight session on Thursday, hurt by losses in consumer staples and financial stocks.

At the close of trade, the CSE All-Share index fell 0.65% to 8,034.78

Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka Plc and Ceylinco Insurance PLC were the top drags, falling 5.71% and 6.95%, respectively.

Trading volume rose to 50.1 million shares from about 69.5 million in the previous session.

The equity market’s turnover was 976.7 million Sri Lankan rupees ($2.7 million), compared with 1.63 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, purchasing stocks worth 60.9 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading shares worth 972.8 million rupees, data showed.

The island nation is in talks for a debt-for-nature swap deal for up to $1 billion, Reuters reported on Thursday.

Sri Lankan shares slide for a third day as industrial, financial stocks weigh

Debt-for-nature deals can help as they can produce so-called green bonds, or blue bonds in the case of those that focus on ocean conservation, which appeal to a rapidly growing investor base that wants to meet environmental, social & governance and net-zero goals.

These deals see expensive bonds or loans written down and replaced with cheaper financing, usually with the help of a credit guarantee from a multilateral development bank.