Sri Lankan shares closed lower on Tuesday, dragged by industrials and communication services stocks.

The CSE All Share index settled down 0.23% at 8,746.45, snapping four straight session of gains.

Sri Lanka will slash the price of 60 essential drugs by 16% from June 15, the health minister said on Tuesday, as the country sees a glimmer of relief from its worst financial crisis in decades.

Helped by a stronger currency, the island country will also begin rolling back import restrictions on 300-400 items from this week, as per a statement from the finance ministry which gave no further details.

On the CSE All Share index, Expolanka Holdings Plc and Sri Lanka Telecom Plc were the top losers, falling 2.4% and 1.8%, respectively.

Sri Lankan shares end higher as consumer staples, industrials gain

Trading volume fell to 25.1 million shares from 31.4 million shares in the previous session.

The equity market’s turnover fell to 482.2 million Sri Lankan rupees ($1.66 million) from 710.4 million rupees in the previous session, according to exchange data.

Foreign investors were net buyers, purchasing stocks worth 29.6 million rupees, while domestic investors were net sellers, offloading shares worth 471.5 million rupees, the data showed.