Sri Lankan shares closed lower on Friday, after six straight sessions of gains, as losses in financials and industrials stocks weighed.
The CSE All-Share index ended 0.99% lower at 9,606.96. The index saw its best week since the week ended Feb. 24.
Ratings agency Fitch said on Friday Sri Lanka was likely to secure financing support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after the lender’s executive board set a date of March 20 to consider approval of a long-awaited $2.9 billion bailout.
Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka Plc and LOLC Finance Plc were the biggest drags to the index on Friday, down 4.3% and 1.6%, respectively, according to Refinitiv data.
The trading volume for the CSE All Share index fell to 66.7 million shares from 97.5 million in the previous session.
Sri Lankan shares post 6-day rally, helped by industrials
The equity market’s turnover fell to 1.78 billion Sri Lankan rupees ($5.84 million) from 2.49 billion rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.
Foreign investors were net buyers in the equity market, purchasing stocks worth 213.9 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading 1.64 billion rupees worth of shares, the data showed.